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Committee advances bill to require perinatal mental-health screening and reporting to the General Assembly
Summary
House Bill 649 would require mental-health screening for pregnant and postpartum people and set reporting requirements; the committee approved the substitute bill after stakeholder comments that screenings are generally covered by insurers and that patients may decline services.
A substitute for House Bill 649, which would require mental-health screening for pregnant and postpartum people and create reporting requirements, passed the committee on a voice vote.
Representative Bennett, the bill’s author, told the committee that the legislation responds to Georgia’s high maternal mortality and to a Department of Public Health report concluding that mental-health conditions are among the leading preventable causes of death in perinatal women. Bennett said the bill would define maternal mental-health conditions and mental-health screenings and would set proposed screening intervals based on clinical guidance.
“By bringing this bill, we are attempting to help decrease the number of unnecessary deaths in Georgia by pregnant women and people who have had babies,” Bennett said. “If we catch the condition early…treatment interventions can be made and perhaps a life can be saved.”
Representative Hughley asked who would receive the bill’s annual report; Bennett said the department would develop the data collection and that the report would come to the General Assembly. Representative Taylor asked whether screenings would already be covered by insurance; Bennett said patients may decline services, and the committee called forward Jesse Wellington, president of the Georgia Association of Health Plans, to address coverage.
Wellington said insurers are “comfortable with the language in section 3” and that the services described are "by and large, already provided under coverage," adding that the bill’s reference to nationally accepted clinical practice guidelines would make carrier practices more consistent.
Following brief discussion, Representative Scott moved that the committee report the substitute bill favorably; the motion was seconded and the committee approved the bill by voice vote. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally. The chair announced that the bill passed and that there was no further business on the agenda.
