Democrats are pleased that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has come around to addressing maternal health issues, but they question his motives.
During a press gaggle Monday after Youngkin delivered his State of the Commonwealth address, Democrats discussed how they have been pushing for legislation to address maternal health issues for years while the governor is now making it a priority.
“We have been leading on that issue for a very long time,” said House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, D-Fairfax. “I’m glad that the governor’s eyes are finally open and recognize that there is a disparity when it comes to maternal health care in the Black community. But what is disappointing is that he vetoed a bill just last year regarding maternal health.”
Youngkin held an event last month announcing his initiative to address maternal health issues in the commonwealth, just one day after Democrats unveiled their proposals.
While Herring said she is happy Youngkin’s eyes are open, Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, disagreed with that sentiment.
“I beg to differ with my colleague,” Locke said. “His eyes are not open. He is still unconscious with regard to cultural competency and bias in healthcare as it relates to African American women on maternal healthcare. He has taken it on as a political issue, as his own issue.
The proposals from both Democrats and Youngkin are similar in the problems they address.
During his event in December, Youngkin announced Executive Directive 11, which is intended to accelerate and strengthen the collection and publication of maternal morbidity data.
“This directive instructs the Virginia Department of Health to enhance the Maternal and Child Health Data Dashboard,” he said at the time. “We’re taking it statewide to include actionable data on pregnancy-associated and pregnancy-related mortality and causes, and to establish a centralized maternal health website to provide families essential resources in one accessible location.”
Locke filed a bill again to address unconscious bias in healthcare settings.
SB 740, from Locke, would direct the Board of Medicine to require unconscious bias and cultural competency training as part of the continuing education requirements for renewal of licensure.
Youngkin vetoed similar legislation from Locke earlier last year.
He noted the disparities that exist during his press conference last month.
“There should not be a single mother who is lost because of health conditions while she is either pregnant or in postpartum,” he said. “We know that there’s a disparate outcome between Black women and white women, between Hispanic women and white women, between Native American women.”
Both Youngkin and Democrats seem to agree that work needs to be done in rural communities on maternal healthcare access.
Democrats said their slate of bills is designed to “improve health outcomes for mothers before, during, and after childbirth, with a particular focus on supporting rural and under-resourced communities.”
SB 758, from Locke, aims to help bridge the divide between patients and doctors.
The bill would expand the provision for payment of medical assistance for remote patient monitoring services provided via telemedicine to include all pregnant and postpartum women. Under current law, only high-risk pregnancies are covered.
Youngkin acknowledged this disparity during his event last month, a sign that he might be on board with SB 758.
“We know there’s a disparate outcome between mothers in rural communities where there is a maternal health desert,” he said.
Youngkin is also pushing for an incremental $1 million investment to expand doula and community health worker programs, prioritizing localities with the highest maternal mortality rates.
He said he is also pushing the General Assembly to require all hospitals to implement safety bundles designed by the Virginia Neonatal and Perinatal Collaborative at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The VNPC provides assistance to hospitals and obstetric providers in performing quality improvement initiatives designed to improve pregnancy outcomes. It provides hospital-specific data to participating hospitals to help them accomplish quality improvement goals.
The General Assembly began its work Monday, starting a few days behind schedule due to the Richmond water crisis.