Public Health - Expedited Partner Therapy - Bacterial Vaginosis and Licensed Certified Midwives
HB0422 expands Maryland’s expedited partner therapy law, which allows certain health care practitioners to provide antibiotic therapy to a diagnosed patient’s sexual partner without first making a personal physical assessment of that partner. The bill adds bacterial vaginosis to the list of conditions covered by the law, alongside chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis. It also updates the statutory language to refer more broadly to infections transmitted through sexual activity.
In addition, the bill adds licensed certified midwives to the list of practitioners authorized to provide expedited partner therapy. Under the amended law, physicians, advanced practice registered nurses with prescriptive authority, authorized physician assistants, registered nurses employed by local health departments under specified conditions, and licensed certified midwives may prescribe, dispense, or otherwise provide antibiotic therapy to a sexual partner of a diagnosed patient. The Secretary of Health is directed to adopt regulations to implement the law in both public and private health care settings, and the act takes effect October 1, 2026.
The bill amends § 18-214.1 of the Health-General Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. Its practical effect is to broaden the scope of expedited partner therapy in Maryland by adding bacterial vaginosis as a qualifying diagnosis and by expanding the provider categories authorized to use this treatment approach to include licensed certified midwives. It also preserves existing limits by stating that the change does not otherwise expand prescribing or dispensing authority for advanced practice registered nurses or physician assistants, while continuing to authorize pharmacists to dispense therapy prescribed under the section.
The available record suggests the bill was noncontroversial and broadly accepted, as reflected by its enactment and approval by the Governor. No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided indicating organized opposition or significant debate. The measure appears to have been treated as a public health update aimed at improving access to treatment and reducing reinfection and transmission.
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided materials. Potential areas of policy sensitivity inherent in the bill include the expansion of expedited partner therapy to bacterial vaginosis, which is not always treated as a classic sexually transmitted infection, and the addition of licensed certified midwives to the list of authorized practitioners. However, the bill text also includes limiting language to avoid expanding broader prescribing authority, which may have reduced concerns about scope of practice.