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House committee adopts amendment, advances bill to create doula registry tied to TennCare reimbursement
Summary
The Tennessee House Insurance Committee adopted amendment 012864 to create a Department of Health registry for doulas and advanced House Bill 295 (8-7) after legal counsel clarified registration is required only for TennCare reimbursement, not to practice.
The Tennessee House Insurance Committee voted 8-7 to advance House Bill 295, which—after adoption of amendment 012864—directs the Department of Health to establish a registry for people who provide doula services and enables TennCare to reimburse doulas listed on that registry. "This amendment sets up a registry for the state of Tennessee for people who practice doula services," a committee member said when presenting the amendment.
Supporters, led by Representative Love, said the bill aims to expand access to trained doulas for people on TennCare and cited work of the state's maternal mortality review board. "When we created a maternal mortality review board a few years back, one thing we discovered was that 85 percent of the maternal deaths could have been prevented," Representative Love said, arguing that certified doula services could help reduce preventable harm.
Legal counsel from the Love and Crutchfield Office told the committee the bill requires doulas to be on the registry only if they seek TennCare reimbursement; the amendment does not itself bar doulas from practicing outside of reimbursement. Committee debate emphasized there is no registration fee and that the amendment removes a board that had been in earlier drafts. The clerk recorded eight ayes and seven noes on the bill; the committee initially noted the bill would go to the Government Operations Committee, then corrected the record to say the bill will be sent to the Health Committee.
The amendment specifies that applicants submit evidence of qualifications approved by nationally recognized bodies and that registrants demonstrate knowledge of perinatal anatomy and physiology, breastfeeding and postpartum care, nonclinical labor-coping strategies, and community resources. Committee members asked legal staff to confirm that existing statutes governing doula practice remain in effect; legal counsel said the amendment creates the registry and ties TennCare reimbursement to registry listing but does not change other statutes.
The committee passed the amended bill and reported it to the next committee for further consideration. The next procedural step is referral processing and scheduling in the Health Committee, where members may debate language, funding implications and operational details for implementing the registry.
