HI HCR196

Requests Department of Health to convene a Preterm Birth Task Force in collaboration with Department of Human Services, John A. Burns School of Medicine, and health plan providers to develop best practices for reducing elective cesarean sections and labor inductions.

Task Force must review hospital licensure laws, determine if standardized policies conforming to American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or Institute for Healthcare Improvement guidelines should be required, and maintain current training materials.

Task Force shall establish a learning collaboration model for healthcare practitioners, develop a public awareness campaign on risks of elective preterm cesarean sections and labor induction, and track preterm birth rates and infant morbidity/mortality data.

Task Force composition includes representatives from Department of Health Family Health Services Division, Department of Human Services Med-QUEST Division, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, March of Dimes Hawaii Chapter, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaiʻi, and two obstetrics/gynecology physicians.

Department of Health must submit findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the 2012 Regular Session, at which point the Task Force ceases to exist.