House Bill No. 37 aims to enhance perinatal bereavement care in Texas by establishing a framework for hospitals to provide necessary support to families experiencing intrauterine fetal demise, neonatal death, or stillbirth. The bill introduces Chapter 328 to the Health and Safety Code, which mandates hospitals with a maternal level of care designation to offer perinatal bereavement care counseling and access to perinatal bereavement devices for a duration recommended by medical professionals. Additionally, the Department of State Health Services is tasked with creating a perinatal bereavement care initiative to improve access and quality of care, which includes training for hospital personnel and the provision of necessary resources.

Furthermore, the bill establishes a hospital recognition program, overseen by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, to acknowledge hospitals that provide adequate perinatal bereavement care training. The initiative will prioritize hospitals that lack access to bereavement devices, treat high-risk maternal patients, and deliver a significant number of babies. The executive commissioner is also authorized to adopt rules for implementing these provisions, with the act set to take effect on September 1, 2025.

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