Public Health, Department of; require healthcare providers, facilities, and pharmacies to provide the Maternal Mortality Review Committee with psychiatric or other clinical records
HB 89 amends Georgia public health and medical-records law to support maternal mortality review and to reorganize oversight of regional perinatal care. The bill requires health care providers, facilities, and pharmacies to give the Maternal Mortality Review Committee access to all relevant medical records in cases under review, including psychiatric records, within 30 days of a request unless otherwise barred by law. It also grants immunity from civil, criminal, or disciplinary liability for good-faith disclosure of those records.
The bill creates a Regional Perinatal Center Advisory Committee within the Department of Public Health to evaluate the state’s regional perinatal system and recommend changes to the commissioner. Beginning July 1, 2026, and every four years thereafter, the department must assess the adequacy of the system, consider hospital and labor-and-delivery closures, and review transport, consultation, education, and data-sharing functions of regional perinatal centers. Hospitals seeking designation as regional perinatal centers must provide information about their capabilities, funding needs, regional planning issues, and services, and the department must submit a statewide plan and funding considerations to state leaders every four years.
The bill also revises Georgia’s clinical-records confidentiality statute to expressly allow release of a deceased patient’s records to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee and to coroner or medical examiner subpoenas, and it updates the medical examiner inquiry process for pregnant female deaths. Specifically, it removes the prior requirement that such inquiries be routed through a regional perinatal center, while preserving the ability to conduct inquiries in other circumstances involving maternal deaths. These changes affect hospitals, psychiatric providers, pharmacies, medical examiners, the Department of Public Health, and the Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
Overall, the bill appears to have broad legislative support and little visible opposition, passing the House 168-7 and the Senate 50-1. The vote totals suggest strong bipartisan agreement around improving maternal mortality review and perinatal care coordination. No committee transcript was provided, so the available record does not show detailed debate, but the near-unanimous votes indicate the bill was generally viewed favorably as a public health measure.
The main points of potential contention are privacy and administrative burden. The bill expands access to psychiatric and other clinical records for review of deceased patients, which could raise confidentiality concerns, even though the bill limits disclosure to the committee and includes liability protections for good-faith compliance. Another possible concern is the new statewide planning and advisory structure for regional perinatal centers, including periodic assessments of hospital closures, funding needs, and transport capacity, which may affect hospitals and state budget planning.
HB 89 amends Title 31 public health provisions, Title 37 mental health clinical-record confidentiality rules, and Title 45 medical examiner procedures. It expands the legal authority of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee to obtain medical and psychiatric records of deceased patients, creates a new advisory framework for regional perinatal centers, requires periodic statewide planning and reporting by the Department of Public Health, and changes how maternal-death medical examiner inquiries are initiated. The bill directly affects health care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, medical examiners, and the Department of Public Health.
The bill’s legislative reception was strongly positive. It passed the House by a wide margin of 168-7 and the Senate by 50-1, indicating broad bipartisan support for the bill’s maternal health and public health objectives. The available record does not include committee debate, but the voting history suggests the measure was viewed as a practical effort to improve maternal mortality review and strengthen perinatal care coordination across the state.
The most likely areas of contention are patient privacy and operational burden. By requiring access to psychiatric records and other clinical records for deceased patients, the bill expands the scope of information available to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which could concern advocates for medical confidentiality even though the bill limits disclosure and provides liability protection for good-faith compliance. Hospitals and the Department of Public Health may also face questions about the costs and logistics of the new advisory committee, periodic assessments, transport planning, and statewide funding recommendations for regional perinatal centers.