ATTENTION ESSEX COUNTY! TIME CRITICAL! OUR MIDWIVES STILL NEED OUR HELP!

Recieved this information today.

Hi everyone:

We just learned that the reason our bill has not moved forward since
we got out of Steering and Policy is because Rep. Joyce Spiliotis put
a hold on it.
She needs to hear from her district TODAY that we want her to take
off her hold and support the bill. Her contact information is below.
WE NEED CALLS FROM HER CONSTITUENTS - AND- FROM FOLKS ASSOCIATED WITH
THE NORTH SHORE BIRTH CENTER (clients, midwives, admin). If you can't
call, email.
Please do NOT call if you are not either in her district or
associated with the birth center. If you are in neither group but
have friends or family who are, please call them and ask them to call.

Read the attached fact sheet before you call. Ask to speak to a
legislative aide and politely request that she remove her hold.
Explain that this bill has been vetted by both the Public Health
Committee and the Health Care Financing Committee and is important to
people in her district. You can refer questions to me, Mary Ann Hart
(our lobbyist - her contact info is on the fact sheet), or Kay Khan,
our sponsor.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE
JOYCE A. SPILIOTIS

Room 236
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: 617-722-2430
Email: Rep.JoyceSpiliotis@hou.state.ma.us
Party Affiliation - DEMOCRAT
DISTRICT REPRESENTED: Twelfth Essex. - Consisting of all precincts of
wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, of the city of Peabody, in the county of Essex



FACT SHEET

Massachusetts Coalition for Midwifery

Fact Sheet: House 4810
An Act Relative to Certified Professional Midwives and Enhancing the Practice of Nurse-Midwives

The Purpose of the Bill: is to have the Commonwealth set standards for the practice of midwifery in Massachusetts. The bill creates a Committee on Midwifery within the Board of Medicine, which will regulate the practice of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs). It would also strike outdated statutory language that mandates physician supervision of Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs).

Legislative History: H. 4810 has been reported favorably from the Committees on Public Health and from Health Care Financing. The bill is currently in House Steering and Policy (6/28/10).

Current Law: Currently, the Commonwealth only regulates the practice of CNMs, through the Board of Registration in Nursing. There is no state oversight of CPMs. Current law also contains unnecessary and burdensome mandated physician supervision of certified nurse-midwives’ prescriptive authority.

Why This Bill is Needed: Midwives who are not nurses provide midwifery services to women across the state. This bill is needed to ensure that midwifery care is practiced safely in all settings in Massachusetts, with clear standards set and state oversight.
Supervision requirements for certified nurse-midwives create excessive and unnecessary liability for physicians and limit consumer access to high quality midwifery services, especially in high-need communities.

What This Bill Does:
• Establishes state oversight of midwifery through a Committee on Midwifery within the Board of Medicine, which will regulate the practice of CPMs.
• Authorizes the Department of Public Health (DPH), in consultation with the Board of Nursing, to promulgate regulations relative to prescriptive authority for CNMs.

Who Are the Midwives That Will be Affected by this Bill? There are two types of midwives- Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs – 450 in MA), and Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs - over 30 in MA and growing) - all professionally certified by nationally approved certifying agencies.

For more information, please call Peggy Garland, CNM, MPH, Coordinator of the Massachusetts Coalition for Midwifery 617 306-1511 or Mary Ann Hart, Hart Government Relations, at 617-797-8488 or HartMaryA@aol.com

Massachusetts Midwives Alliance • Massachusetts Chapters, American College of Nurse-Midwives


Senate Sponsor
Sen. Richard Moore
Senate Co-sponsors
Susan C. Tucker
Richard R. Tisei
Jennifer L. Flanagan
John W. Scibak
Sonia Chang-Díaz
Steven A. Baddour
Cynthia Stone Creem
James B. Eldridge
Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.
Jennifer M. Callahan
Bruce E. Tarr
Susan C. Fargo
Stephen M. Brewer
Anthony D. Galluccio
Karen E. Spilka
Mark C. Montigny
Gale D. Candaras

House Sponsors
Rep. Kay Khan
House Co-sponsors
Jennifer Benson
Lida E. Harkins
Alice K. Wolf
Ellen Story
Ruth B. Balser
Michael F. Rush
Stephen L. DiNatale
Martha M. Walz
Matthew C. Patrick
Stephen Kulik
Robert P. Spellane
William N. Brownsberger
Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.
Jeffrey Sánchez
Stephen R. Canessa
James E. Vallee
Charles A. Murphy
John W. Scibak
William Smitty Pignatelli
Frank I. Smizik
Denise Provost
Michael J. Moran
David P. Linsky
Christine E. Canavan
John D. Keen
Robert M. Koczera
Peter v. Kocot
Katherine Clark
Willie Mae Allen
Sean Garballey
Cory Atkins
Sarah K. Peake
Anne M. Gobi
Todd M. Smola
Timothy J. Toomey
Joseph R. Driscoll, Jr.
Timothy Madden
James B. Eldridge
Jennifer L. Flanagan
Steven A. Baddour
Richard J. Ross
Kevin G. Honan
Jennifer M. Callahan
Gloria L. Fox
Benjamin Swan
Susan C. Tucker
Jeffrey Davis Perry
Bruce E. Tarr
Robert L. Rice, Jr.
Garrett J. Bradley
Paul McMurtry
Viriato Manuel deMacedo
Timothy Madden
Richard R. Tisei