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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 21, 2023 12:52 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mary Jo Daley |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Reimbursements for Remote Ultrasound Procedures and Fetal Nonstress Tests |
| Expectant mothers everywhere know that while pregnancy can be a rewarding experience, it can be an overwhelming one as well. For many women, the taxing toll that pregnancy takes on them both mentally and physically is compounded by the numerous visits they must make to medical offices for maternity care, including procedures and tests to help monitor their health along with the health of their unborn children. For women in rural areas, such visits may require long travel distances or, worse yet, lack of care altogether. According to March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies, more than half (54%) of U.S. counties have limited or no access to maternity care, and 36% of counties are considered maternity care deserts, which are defined as counties that have no hospitals providing obstetric care, no birth centers, no OB/GYN facilities, and no certified nurse midwives. Mothers and babies in maternal care deserts face a higher risk of poor health outcomes, including death. In Pennsylvania, more than 105,000 women between 18-44 years of age have limited or no access to maternity care, and the infant mortality rate is higher than the national average. We can and must do better than this! To help address the difficulties pregnant women face in getting the care they need, I will be introducing legislation to enable more women to access maternity care via telehealth services. Specifically, this legislation would require the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services to amend its rules for fee-for-service and Medicaid Managed Care Plans to permit reimbursements for remote ultrasound procedures and fetal nonstress tests. Please join me in support of this effort to ensure that expectant mothers receive the care they need during pregnancy. |