1. A. A health care provider, the office of the state medical investigator and the vital records and health statistics bureau of the department shall notify operational staff of any incident of maternal mortality within three months of the incident.
2. B. Except as otherwise provided by law, the clinical co-chair and operational staff may access medical records and other health information relating to an incident of maternal mortality at any time within five years from the date of the incident. At the request of the clinical co-chair or operational staff with co-chairs or department approval, a health care provider, the office of the state medical investigator and the vital records and health statistics bureau of the department shall provide medical records and other requested health information to the department relating to an incident of maternal mortality. Upon the request of the clinical co-chair or operational staff, a law enforcement agency shall provide any report relating to an incident of maternal mortality to the department. A health care provider or law enforcement agency that provides a medical record, health information or report pursuant to this section with reasonable care and in compliance with the law shall not be held criminally or civilly liable for that release of information.

3. C. The following shall be confidential and shall not be subject to the Open Meetings Act [Chapter 10, Article 15 NMSA 1978] or the Inspection of Public Records Act [Chapter 14, Article 3 NMSA 1978] or subject to any subpoena, discovery request or introduction into evidence in a civil or criminal proceeding unless obtained from a source separate and apart from the committee or department by valid means as provided by law:

   1. (1) any meeting, part of a meeting or activity of the committee or its executive committee at which data or other information is to be discussed and that may result in disclosure to the public of information protected by law; and
   2. (2) except as may be necessary in furtherance of the duties of the committee or in response to an alleged violation of a confidentiality agreement pursuant to Subsection E of this section, any information, record, report, notes, memorandum or other data that the department or committee obtains pursuant to the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Prevention Act.
4. D. Only the clinical co-chair and operational staff shall collect and have access to medical records, law enforcement reports and vital records data to support the work of the full committee.
5. E. Each committee member and qualified guest shall sign a confidentiality agreement that indicates the member's or qualified guest's adherence to the provisions of this section.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 41, § 4; 2021, ch. 40, § 4.

ANNOTATIONS

The 2021 amendment, effective June 18, 2021, eliminated the abstractor subcommittee, and transferred certain duties to the clinical co-chair and operational staff; after "information", deleted "abstractor subcommittee"; in Subsection A, after "shall notify", deleted "the chief medical officer" and added "operational staff", and after "any incident of maternal mortality", deleted "or severe maternal morbidity"; in Subsection B, after each occurrence of "maternal mortality", deleted "and severe maternal morbidity", after "provided by law, the", deleted "subcommittee" and added "clinical co-chair and operational staff", after the first occurrence of "request of the", deleted "chief medical officer" and added "clinical co-chair or operational staff with co-chairs or department approval", after "an incident of maternal mortality, deleted "for access by the subcommittee", after the second occurrence of "request of the", deleted "department" and added "clinical co-chair or operational staff", after "maternal mortality to the", deleted "committee" and added "department"; in Subsection C, Paragraph C(1), after "activity of the committee or", deleted "subcommittee" and added "its executive committee"; in Subsection D, deleted the first four sentences of the subsection, which related to the appointment of the three-member abstractor subcommittee and certain duties of the abstractor subcommittee, after "Only", deleted "members of the subcommittee" and added "the clinical co-chair and operational staff", after "shall", added "collect and", after "medical records", added "law enforcement reports", and after "vital records data", added "to support the work of the full committee"; and in Subsection E, after "committee", deleted "subcommittee", after "member", added "and qualified guest", and after "member's", added "or qualified guest's".