Public Health - Expedited Partner Therapy - Bacterial Vaginosis and Licensed Certified Midwives
Summary
SB0394 expands Maryland’s expedited partner therapy law, which allows certain health care practitioners to provide antibiotic treatment 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 statute, alongside chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis. It also adds licensed certified midwives to the group of practitioners authorized to prescribe, dispense, or otherwise provide this therapy.
The measure keeps the existing public health purpose of expedited partner therapy: reducing the spread of infection and lowering the risk that a diagnosed patient will be reinfected by an untreated partner. It clarifies that the law applies to infections transmitted through sexual activity and preserves the existing limits on prescribing authority for advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants. Pharmacists remain authorized to dispense therapy prescribed under the statute, and the Secretary of Health is directed to adopt implementing regulations for both public and private health care settings.
Impact
The bill amends § 18-214.1 of the Health – General Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. Its legal effect is to broaden the range of infections eligible for expedited partner therapy and to expand the list of practitioners who may use it by including licensed certified midwives. The bill does not otherwise expand the general prescribing authority of nurses or physician assistants, but it does create a new statutory authorization for midwives in this specific context. The effective date is October 1, 2026.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It passed the Senate 44-0 and the House 129-0, indicating unanimous approval in both chambers. No committee transcript concerns are provided, and the final enactment suggests the measure was viewed as a routine public health update rather than a contested policy change.
Contention
There is little evidence of substantive opposition in the available record. The only potentially notable policy questions are the expansion of expedited partner therapy to bacterial vaginosis and the addition of licensed certified midwives as authorized providers. Those changes could raise implementation or scope-of-practice questions, but the unanimous votes suggest no significant disagreement surfaced during consideration. The bill also preserves existing limits on broader prescribing authority, which may have helped avoid controversy among health professions stakeholders.