§ 26:18-1 — Findings, declarations, relative to maternal mortality, morbidity; New Jersey Maternal Care Quality Collaborative, Maternal Data Center, established.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that: a. Most nations across the globe have successfully reduced their maternal mortality rates over the past two and a half decades, in response to a United Nations' call to action; however, the U.S. is one of only a handful of countries where maternal mortality rates have continued to rise (increasing by 27 percent between 2000 and 2014); b. The U.S. is currently ranked 50th in the world in maternal mortality, with a rate of maternal death that is nearly three times the rate that exists in the United Kingdom, and about six times the rate that exists in the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden; c. In New Jersey, there is currently a Maternal Mortality Case Review Team that operates out of the Department of Health (DOH), and periodically reviews and provides statistics on maternal deaths occurring in the State; d. A document produced by Every Mother Counts shows that New Jersey is ranked 46th of the 50 states in total maternal mortality, with a rate of 37.3 maternal deaths per every 100,000 live births, and that African-American women in New Jersey are five times more likely than Caucasian women to die from pregnancy-related complications; e. Although the DOH Maternal Mortality Case Review Team produces important statistical data, the team is not permanently established by statute, does not meet regularly, produces only periodic reports on maternal mortality, and uses varying datasets in those periodic reports, making the aggregation and comparison of data by interested parties more difficult; f. There is a need to coordinate and expand the multiple, fractionalized maternal mortality and morbidity reduction efforts being conducted by caring and committed individuals and organizations across the State. Further, it is essential to house these myriad efforts in the DOH, the State-designated agency responsible for public health protection and services. The DOH can uniquely leverage the weight and power of the State to effectuate critical changes in the delivery of care and the implementation of Statewide strategies to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and to eliminate the racial and ethnic disparities in maternal outcomes; g. To coordinate and support a Statewide strategy to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality, the State hereby establishes a New Jersey Maternal Care Quality Collaborative (NJMCQC); h. To improve data collection and to improve and assist quality improvement efforts by health care facilities and the State, a Maternal Data Center is hereby established within the Healthcare Quality and Informatics Unit in the DOH; i. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2023, c.109); and j. In order to ensure that the entity reviewing maternal deaths in the State may operate permanently and sustainably, with full statutory authority, in adherence to certain specified powers and responsibilities, it is both reasonable and necessary for the Legislature to replace the existing informal DOH Maternal Mortality Case Review Team with a statutorily established Maternal Mortality Review Committee situated in the Department of Health, which committee will incorporate the membership of the current Maternal Mortality Case Review Team, but will have formal statutory authority, broader powers, and specific goals and directives, as necessary to ensure that it is able to continuously engage in the comprehensive, regular, and uniform review and reporting of maternal deaths throughout the State. L.2019, c.75, s.1; amended 2023, c.109, s.11.