PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor                             Ch. 503

CHAPTER 503
(House Bill 888)

AN ACT concerning

Mothers' and Infants' Health Security Act

FOR the purpose of requiring, with certain exceptions, nonprofit health service plans,
hospital or major medical insurance policies, and group or blanket health insurance
policies to encourage and assist certain persons to select and contact a primary care
provider for an expected newborn prior to the delivery date; requiring certain
persons to provide certain insured persons with certain information on postpartum
home visits; requiring certain persons to require certain insured persons to select
and contact a primary care provider for the newborn prior to discharge of the
newborn from the hospital; specifying that the criteria and standards used by private
review agents or health maintenance organizations in performing utilization review
of certain services to be in accordance with certain medical criteria; providing a
certain exception under certain circumstances; and generally relating to the health
of mothers and infants.

BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
Article 48A - Insurance Code
Section 354KK, 470AA, and 477KK
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1994 Replacement Volume and 1994 Supplement)

BY adding to

Article - Health - General

Section 19-1305.4

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1990 Replacement Volume and 1994 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a cause of severe mental retardation and
can be prevented if diagnosed within the first three weeks after childbirth; and

WHEREAS, The State's laws direct the screening of newborn infants for hereditary
and congenital disorders in the hospital prior to discharge; and

WHEREAS, Hospital stays of less than 24 hours after childbirth typically result in
unsatisfactory PKU specimens as a result of insufficient milk feedings, and the incidence
of unsatisfactory PKU specimens has risen from 5% in 1989, to 30% in the second half of
1992, to 40% in 1993, and 25% of infants with unsatisfactory PKU specimens never
receive a subsequent screening; and

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