HB149: HB149 Healthy Mothers Now Act; enact

Some Georgia counties have few or no hospitals, birth centers, or obstetric providers to care for new mothers. House Bill 149, called the Healthy Mothers Now Act, would direct the Department of Public Health to run a three-year pilot program using mobile health clinics to deliver postpartum care in these underserved counties. The bill defines 'limited maternity care counties' (fewer than two obstetric facilities or fewer than 60 obstetric providers per 10,000 births) and 'maternity care deserts' (no obstetric facility or provider at all). It spells out that postpartum care must include at least four visits over a year after a birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. The department must report on the program's progress each year through 2026, and the program is contingent on the General Assembly providing specific funding, automatically ending on June 30, 2029. It would take effect immediately if signed by the Governor.

• Creates a three-year pilot program at the Department of Public Health to deliver postpartum care via mobile health clinics in underserved counties.
• Defines 'limited maternity care county' and 'maternity care desert' based on the number of hospitals, birth centers, or obstetric providers relative to births.
• Requires postpartum care to include at least four specific visits with an obstetric provider within the first year after birth, miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death.
• Requires the department to submit annual written reports on the program to the Governor, legislative leaders, and relevant committees, including a final report with expansion recommendations.
• Makes the entire program contingent on the General Assembly providing specific funding for it, and sets it to automatically repeal on June 30, 2029.

Pregnant and postpartum women in Georgia counties with few or no hospitals, birth centers, or obstetric providers; the Department of Public Health, which must run and report on the program; and obstetric providers such as physicians and advanced practice registered nurses who would staff the mobile clinics.

Women in counties with little or no obstetric care could gain access to postpartum checkups, mental health screenings, and newborn care guidance they otherwise might not receive nearby. Whether the program actually launches depends on the General Assembly separately appropriating money for it.

• Section 1 gives the Act its short title, the 'Healthy Mothers Now Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code section 31-2A-21 defining 'limited maternity care county,' 'maternity care desert,' 'obstetric provider,' and 'postpartum care,' the last requiring at least four specific postpartum visits.
• Subsection (b) directs the Department of Public Health to run a three-year pilot mobile health clinic program in these underserved counties.
• Subsection (c) requires an annual written report to the Governor, House Speaker, Senate President, and relevant health committees, due by June 30, 2026 and each year after, with the final report recommending whether to expand statewide.
• Subsection (d) makes the program contingent on specific legislative funding and sets automatic repeal on June 30, 2029.
• Section 3 sets the effective date as upon the Governor's approval or the bill otherwise becoming law.

1. 2025-01-30House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-29House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-28House Hopper (House)

• Imani Barnes (D, HD-086)Primary sponsor
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Michelle Au (D, HD-050)
• Debbie Buckner (D, HD-137)
• Kimberly Alexander (D, HD-066)

• maternal health
• postpartum care
• rural health care
• public health funding
• mobile health clinics