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Health department backs newborn home visits and opioid pregnancy measures, raises concerns about texting program and hospital signage authority
Summary
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene told the City Council it supports the intent of bills to expand newborn home visiting and to address opioid use disorder in pregnancy, but warned an automated texting program for child health reminders could be harmful if it replaces individualized care and noted workforce limits for scaling services.
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene told the City Council Committee on Health that it supports the intent of multiple bills aimed at maternal and child health — including Intro. 1146 to expand newborn home visiting, and Intro. 1284 on safe pregnancy and opioid treatment — while expressing concerns about execution, authority and workforce capacity.
Council Member Julie Gutierrez and Council Member Selvena Brooks‑Powers opened the hearing with proposals to create an automated text‑messaging system for parenting reminders (Intro. 1001) and to scale newborn home visiting to reach 75 percent of neighborhoods designated by the task force on racial inclusion and equity within three years, and 100 percent within five years (Intro. 1146).
Dr. Z…
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