Below is the HillCo client report from the April 16 Perinatal Advisory Committee meeting.
The Committee met to continue their discussion about neonatal standards – please see the working draft document attached. The group went through the document and compared it to national standards language. Dr. Toy is going to go through the document before the next meeting to make sure changes are incorporated and are cited. At the next meeting in May, the Committee will continue to review the latest draft document to move toward finalizing in June.
Timeline:
- Neonatal standards recommendations finalized in June
- NICU designations finalized by the fall
- Divide the state into reporting regions by July
- To better serve the communities
- Thinking of using the 22 trauma regions that currently exist
- This is NOT to mandate regionalized care, but to better understand the challenges facing various geographical areas
- Discussion of pros and cons
- Suggestion that the committee should consider using the regional system from the 1115 waiver
NICU Designation Subcommittee presented their thoughts on moving forward with designations
- Will review other state’s methods and customize for Texas
- Waiting for Texas NICU Standards finalization so they can insert the agreed upon standards into the framework and finalize the designation process
- Facilities will receive a written application with NICU standards to determine their NICU level of care, a site visit will occur for levels II-IV to ensure the proper designation
- The team that will do site visits should be a neonatologist, perinatologist and a NICU Nurse Administrator
- Considering having facilities provide policies in line with the NICU standards to obtain their desired designation
- Want the Legislature to reimburse families for costs incurred with a home transfer