Maternal mortality review panel — Duties — Confidentiality, testimonial privilege, and liability — Identification of maternal deaths — Reports — Data-sharing agreements.
RCW 70.54.450
in effect(1) For the purposes of this section, "maternal mortality" or "maternal death" means a death of a woman while pregnant or within one year of the end of a pregnancy, from any cause. (2) A maternal mortality review panel is established to conduct comprehensive, multidisciplinary reviews of maternal deaths in Washington to identify factors associated with the deaths and make recommendations for system changes to improve health care services for women in this state. The members of the panel must be appointed by the secretary of the department of health, must include at least one tribal representative, must serve without compensation, and may include at the discretion of the department: (a) Women's medical, nursing, and service providers; (b) Perinatal medical, nursing, and service providers; (c) Obstetric medical, nursing, and service providers; (d) Newborn or pediatric medical, nursing, and service providers; (e) Birthing hospital or licensed birth center representative; (f) Coroners, medical examiners, or pathologists; (g) Behavioral health and service providers; (h) State agency representatives; (i) Individuals or organizations that represent the populations most affected by pregnancy-related deaths or pregnancy-associated deaths and lack of access to maternal health care services; (j) A representative from the department of health who works in the field of maternal and child health; and (k) A department of health epidemiologist with experience analyzing perinatal data. (3) The maternal mortality review panel must conduct comprehensive, multidisciplinary reviews of maternal mortality in Washington. The panel may not call witnesses or take testimony from any individual involved in the investigation of a maternal death or enforce any public health standard or criminal law or otherwise participate in any legal proceeding relating to a maternal death. (4)(a) Information, documents, proceedings, records, and opinions created, collected, or maintained by the maternity mortality review panel or the department of health in support of the maternal mortality review panel are confidential and are not subject to public inspection or copying under chapter 42.56 RCW and are not subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal action. (b) Any person who was in attendance at a meeting of the maternal mortality review panel or who participated in the creation, collection, or maintenance of the panel's information, documents, proceedings, records, or opinions may not be permitted or required to testify in any civil or criminal action as to the content of such proceedings, or the panel's information, documents, records, or opinions. This subsection does not prevent a member of the panel from testifying in a civil or criminal action concerning facts which form the basis for the panel's proceedings of which the panel member had personal knowledge acquired independently of the panel or which is public information. (c) Any person who, in substantial good faith, participates as a member of the maternal mortality review panel or provides information to further the purposes of the maternal mortality review panel may not be subject to an action for civil damages or other relief as a result of the activity or its consequences. (d) All meetings, proceedings, and deliberations of the maternal mortality review panel may, at the discretion of the maternal mortality review panel, be confidential and may be conducted in executive session. (e) The maternal mortality review panel and the department of health may retain identifiable information regarding facilities where maternal deaths occur, or facilities from which a patient whose record is or will be examined by the maternal mortality review panel was transferred, and geographic information on each case for the purposes of determining trends, performing analysis over time, and for quality improvement efforts. All individually identifiable information must be removed before any case review by the panel. (5) The department of health shall review department available data to identify maternal deaths. To aid in determining whether a maternal death was related to or aggravated by the pregnancy, whether it was preventable, and to coordinate quality improvement efforts, the department of health has the authority to: (a) Request and receive data for specific maternal deaths including, but not limited to, all medical records, autopsy reports, medical examiner reports, coroner reports, and social service records; and (b) Request and receive data as described in (a) of this subsection from health care providers, health care facilities, clinics, laboratories, medical examiners, coroners, professions and facilities licensed by the department of health, local health jurisdictions, the health care authority and its licensees and providers, the department of social and health services and its licensees and providers, and the department of children, youth, and families and its licensees and providers. (6) Upon request by the department of health, health care providers, health care facilities, clinics, laboratories, medical examiners, coroners, professions and facilities licensed by the department of health, local health jurisdictions, the health care authority and its licensees and providers, the department of social and health services and its licensees and providers, and the department of children, youth, and families and its licensees and providers must provide all medical records, autopsy reports, medical examiner reports, coroner reports, social services records, information and records related to sexually transmitted diseases, and other data requested for specific maternal deaths as provided for in subsection (5) of this section to the department. (7) By October 1, 2019, and every three years thereafter, the maternal mortality review panel must submit a report to the secretary of the department of health and the health care committees of the senate and house of representatives. The report must protect the confidentiality of all decedents and other participants involved in any incident. The report must be distributed to relevant stakeholder groups for performance improvement. Interim results may be shared with the Washington state hospital association coordinated quality improvement program. The report must include the following: (a) A description of the maternal deaths reviewed by the panel, including statistics and causes of maternal deaths presented in the aggregate, but the report must not disclose any identifying information of patients, decedents, providers, and organizations involved; and (b) Evidence-based system changes and possible legislation to improve maternal outcomes and reduce preventable maternal deaths in Washington. (8) Upon the approval of the department of health and with a signed written data-sharing agreement, the department of health may release either data or findings with indirect identifiers, or both, to the centers for disease control and prevention, regional maternal mortality review efforts, local health jurisdictions of Washington state, or tribes at the discretion of the department. (a) A written data-sharing agreement under this section must, at a minimum: (i) Include a description of the proposed purpose of the request, the scientific justification for the proposal, the type of data needed, and the purpose for which the data will be used; (ii) Include the methods to be used to protect the confidentiality and security of the data; (iii) Prohibit redisclosure of any identifiers without express written permission from the department of health; (iv) Prohibit the recipient of the data from attempting to determine the identity of persons or parties whose information is included in the data set or use the data in any manner that identifies individuals or their family members, or health care providers and facilities; (v) State that ownership of data provided under this section remains with the department of health, and is not transferred to those authorized to receive and use the data under the agreement; and (vi) Require the recipient of the data to include appropriate citations when the data is used in research reports or publications of research findings. (b) The department of health may deny a request to share either data or findings, or both, that does not meet the requirements. (c) For the purposes of this subsection: (i) "Direct identifier" means a single data element that identifies an individual person. (ii) "Indirect identifier" means a single data element that on its own might not identify an individual person, but when combined with other indirect identifiers is likely to identify an individual person. (9) For the purposes of the maternal mortality review, hospitals and licensed birth centers must make a reasonable and good faith effort to report all deaths that occur during pregnancy or within forty-two days of the end of pregnancy to the local coroner or medical examiner: (a) These deaths must be reported within thirty-six hours after death. (b) Local coroners or medical examiners to whom the death was reported must conduct a death investigation, with autopsy strongly recommended. (c) Autopsies must follow the guidelines for performance of an autopsy published by the department of health. (d) Reimbursement of these autopsies must be at one hundred percent to the counties for autopsy services.
(1) For the purposes of this section, "maternal mortality" or "maternal death" means a death of a woman while pregnant or within one year of the end of a pregnancy, from any cause.
(2) A maternal mortality review panel is established to conduct comprehensive, multidisciplinary reviews of maternal deaths in Washington to identify factors associated with the deaths and make recommendations for system changes to improve health care services for women in this state. The members of the panel must be appointed by the secretary of the department of health, must include at least one tribal representative, must serve without compensation, and may include at the discretion of the department:
(a) Women's medical, nursing, and service providers;
(b) Perinatal medical, nursing, and service providers;
(c) Obstetric medical, nursing, and service providers;
(d) Newborn or pediatric medical, nursing, and service providers;
(e) Birthing hospital or licensed birth center representative;
(f) Coroners, medical examiners, or pathologists;
(g) Behavioral health and service providers;
(h) State agency representatives;
(i) Individuals or organizations that represent the populations most affected by pregnancy-related deaths or pregnancy-associated deaths and lack of access to maternal health care services;
(j) A representative from the department of health who works in the field of maternal and child health; and
(k) A department of health epidemiologist with experience analyzing perinatal data.
(3) The maternal mortality review panel must conduct comprehensive, multidisciplinary reviews of maternal mortality in Washington. The panel may not call witnesses or take testimony from any individual involved in the investigation of a maternal death or enforce any public health standard or criminal law or otherwise participate in any legal proceeding relating to a maternal death.
(4)(a) Information, documents, proceedings, records, and opinions created, collected, or maintained by the maternity mortality review panel or the department of health in support of the maternal mortality review panel are confidential and are not subject to public inspection or copying under chapter 42.56 RCW and are not subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal action.
(b) Any person who was in attendance at a meeting of the maternal mortality review panel or who participated in the creation, collection, or maintenance of the panel's information, documents, proceedings, records, or opinions may not be permitted or required to testify in any civil or criminal action as to the content of such proceedings, or the panel's information, documents, records, or opinions. This subsection does not prevent a member of the panel from testifying in a civil or criminal action concerning facts which form the basis for the panel's proceedings of which the panel member had personal knowledge acquired independently of the panel or which is public information.
(c) Any person who, in substantial good faith, participates as a member of the maternal mortality review panel or provides information to further the purposes of the maternal mortality review panel may not be subject to an action for civil damages or other relief as a result of the activity or its consequences.
(d) All meetings, proceedings, and deliberations of the maternal mortality review panel may, at the discretion of the maternal mortality review panel, be confidential and may be conducted in executive session.
(e) The maternal mortality review panel and the department of health may retain identifiable information regarding facilities where maternal deaths occur, or facilities from which a patient whose record is or will be examined by the maternal mortality review panel was transferred, and geographic information on each case for the purposes of determining trends, performing analysis over time, and for quality improvement efforts. All individually identifiable information must be removed before any case review by the panel.
(5) The department of health shall review department available data to identify maternal deaths. To aid in determining whether a maternal death was related to or aggravated by the pregnancy, whether it was preventable, and to coordinate quality improvement efforts, the department of health has the authority to:
(a) Request and receive data for specific maternal deaths including, but not limited to, all medical records, autopsy reports, medical examiner reports, coroner reports, and social service records; and
(b) Request and receive data as described in (a) of this subsection from health care providers, health care facilities, clinics, laboratories, medical examiners, coroners, professions and facilities licensed by the department of health, local health jurisdictions, the health care authority and its licensees and providers, the department of social and health services and its licensees and providers, and the department of children, youth, and families and its licensees and providers.
(6) Upon request by the department of health, health care providers, health care facilities, clinics, laboratories, medical examiners, coroners, professions and facilities licensed by the department of health, local health jurisdictions, the health care authority and its licensees and providers, the department of social and health services and its licensees and providers, and the department of children, youth, and families and its licensees and providers must provide all medical records, autopsy reports, medical examiner reports, coroner reports, social services records, information and records related to sexually transmitted diseases, and other data requested for specific maternal deaths as provided for in subsection (5) of this section to the department.
(7) By October 1, 2019, and every three years thereafter, the maternal mortality review panel must submit a report to the secretary of the department of health and the health care committees of the senate and house of representatives. The report must protect the confidentiality of all decedents and other participants involved in any incident. The report must be distributed to relevant stakeholder groups for performance improvement. Interim results may be shared with the Washington state hospital association coordinated quality improvement program. The report must include the following:
(a) A description of the maternal deaths reviewed by the panel, including statistics and causes of maternal deaths presented in the aggregate, but the report must not disclose any identifying information of patients, decedents, providers, and organizations involved; and
(b) Evidence-based system changes and possible legislation to improve maternal outcomes and reduce preventable maternal deaths in Washington.
(8) Upon the approval of the department of health and with a signed written data-sharing agreement, the department of health may release either data or findings with indirect identifiers, or both, to the centers for disease control and prevention, regional maternal mortality review efforts, local health jurisdictions of Washington state, or tribes at the discretion of the department.
(a) A written data-sharing agreement under this section must, at a minimum:
(i) Include a description of the proposed purpose of the request, the scientific justification for the proposal, the type of data needed, and the purpose for which the data will be used;
(ii) Include the methods to be used to protect the confidentiality and security of the data;
(iii) Prohibit redisclosure of any identifiers without express written permission from the department of health;
(iv) Prohibit the recipient of the data from attempting to determine the identity of persons or parties whose information is included in the data set or use the data in any manner that identifies individuals or their family members, or health care providers and facilities;
(v) State that ownership of data provided under this section remains with the department of health, and is not transferred to those authorized to receive and use the data under the agreement; and
(vi) Require the recipient of the data to include appropriate citations when the data is used in research reports or publications of research findings.
(b) The department of health may deny a request to share either data or findings, or both, that does not meet the requirements.
(c) For the purposes of this subsection:
(i) "Direct identifier" means a single data element that identifies an individual person.
(ii) "Indirect identifier" means a single data element that on its own might not identify an individual person, but when combined with other indirect identifiers is likely to identify an individual person.
(9) For the purposes of the maternal mortality review, hospitals and licensed birth centers must make a reasonable and good faith effort to report all deaths that occur during pregnancy or within forty-two days of the end of pregnancy to the local coroner or medical examiner:
(a) These deaths must be reported within thirty-six hours after death.
(b) Local coroners or medical examiners to whom the death was reported must conduct a death investigation, with autopsy strongly recommended.
(c) Autopsies must follow the guidelines for performance of an autopsy published by the department of health.
(d) Reimbursement of these autopsies must be at one hundred percent to the counties for autopsy services.
Source: WA Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=70.54&full=trueFetched: 6/29/2026