SPONSOR: Bosley
This bill allows for the chief medical officer or chief medical director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Mental Health, or the MO HealthNet division of the Department of Social Services, or any licensed physician acting with the written consent of any of the aforementioned department directors, to issue nonspecific recommendations for doula services, a medical standing order for prenatal vitamins, or a medical standing order for purposes not related to that of controlled substances.
Additionally, the bill requires MO HealthNet coverage of doula services and childbirth education classes for pregnant women and a support person. The Department of Social Services is required to study the impact of the childbirth education classes on infant and maternal mortality among pregnant women. This report must be submitted to the General Assembly before January 1, 2029.
The bill adds childbirth education classes to covered services for unborn children enrolled in the Show-Me Healthy Babies program.
This bill also establishes the "Missouri Doula Reimbursement Act". Under the provisions of this bill, the MO HealthNet program is required to cover the following doula services:
(1) A combined total of six prenatal and postpartum support sessions;
(2) One birth attendance;
(3) Up to two visits for general consultation on lactation at any time during the prenatal and postpartum periods; and
(4) Community navigation services, except that those services provided outside any of the above visits or sessions can only be billed up to 10 times total over the course of the pregnancy and postpartum period.
The bill specifies under what conditions a doula is eligible for participation as a provider of doula services and that once enrolled as a provider, a doula is eligible to enroll as a provider with fee-for-service, and managed care payers affiliated with MO HealthNet program, but that services must be reimbursed on a fee-for-service schedule.
This bill is similar to HCS HB 1095 (2025).
Statutes affected: