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Maryland bill would codify public "health equity" dashboard, update reporting cadence
Summary
A bill before the House Health and Government Operations Committee would require the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Commission on Health Equity to maintain a public, user-friendly health equity dashboard; sponsors accepted a department amendment to change updates from every 30 days to quarterly.
Delegate Jennifer White Holland on Friday introduced House Bill 1100, which would require the Maryland Department of Health, in partnership with the Maryland Commission on Health Equity, to develop and maintain a publicly accessible health equity dashboard tracking age-adjusted disparities by race, ethnicity and gender.
The bill’s sponsor, Delegate Jennifer White Holland, told the Health and Government Operations Committee the dashboard would include key indicators such as chronic disease, health insurance access, mental health and substance use. She said the measure is a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus and is intended to “enhance transparency, provide accountability, and serve as a tool to address health inequities through data-driven policy making.”
The Maryland Department of Health provided testimony and an amendment asking that updates be made quarterly rather than every 30 days; Delegate White Holland said she accepted the amendment as friendly. She told members the work to develop the dashboard is already underway and that the bill was intended to “codify existing practice” and preserve the effort.
Department staff were not part of the hearing panel for this bill, and there was no fiscal note attached to the bill as presented to the committee. Committee member Delegate Keiser asked specifically about the amendment and was told by White Holland that MDH recommended quarterly updates based on realistic data availability.
The bill did not go to a committee vote during the hearing portion recorded in the transcript. Testimony in support emphasized the dashboard’s potential to focus state resources and produce evidence-based interventions; concerns about operational detail or cost were not raised on the record during the public portion of the hearing.
If advanced, the measure would require MDH to maintain a public-facing online dashboard and specify the measures to be included and the timing for updates. The committee hearing record indicates the sponsor and MDH staff have already negotiated at least one technical change to the reporting cadence.
The committee proceeded to consider additional bills after this hearing concluded.
