Midwives Advisory Board

Meeting of June 14, 2017

North Campus, 1st Floor Public Meeting Room

1106 Clayton Lane, Austin, Texas

Summary of Minutes

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz called the meeting to order at 1:04 p.m.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item B, Roll Call and Certification of Quorum and Introductions. Board Members: Meredith Rentz, Dr. Michael Nix, Dr. Charleta Guillory, Janet Dirmeyer, Laurie Fremgen, Victoria Meinhardt, and Helen Nelson were present and a quorum was seated. Board member, Brenda Buffington was absent.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item C., Approval of the Minutes – Meeting of March 27, 2017. The board recommended changes to the minutes to correct the date, noting that there was no public comment and correcting the notation that Laurie Fremgen recommended a rule change to correctly indicate that Ms. Fremgen opened a discussion on the rule. Board member Laurie Fremgen, seconded by Janet Dirmeyer, made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion passes by unanimous vote.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item D., Public Comment and moved public comment to the end of the meeting.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item E, Staff Reports. Executive Office – Brad Bowman, General Counsel and Mary Winston, Advisory Board Attorney provided a legislative update on all TDLR program as well as the specific changes to the Midwives program. Changes include the application of antibiotic ointment with parental consent and the State requirement to provide a list of midwives in the state. Mary Winston reported on the bill implementation process to enact the changes from the Legislature. Board members asked about our agency Sunset date, which was pushed back for two years.

Compliance Division –Yvonne Feinleib, Program Specialist reported that the transition has gone smoothly, the standards of care workgroup met and will continue to review and develop rules, staff is preparing for phase two of the DSHS implementation.

Education and Examination Division - Ray Pizarro, Division Director reported that Education and Examination is focused on phase two of the implementation. Several bills from the legislature will impact Education and Examination and staff will be busy with that function.

Enforcement Division - Charlotte Melder, Senior Prosecutor reported that the Penalty matrix was presented at Association of Texas Midwives conference and provided statistic on the cases. Ms. Melder answered questions from the board on the case review process and timeline.

Licensing Division - Leonard Rivas, Licensing Manager provided the statistics and reported on outstanding licensee’s follow-up.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item F., Update from work groups and possible recommendation:

Standard of Care workgroup: Laurie Fremgen reported that the group met and discussed revising the ICA document and reviewing rules to clarify definitions of certain terms. Discussed the issue of mandatory reporting requirements for maternal mortality reporting and fetal deaths. The workgroup requested feedback from the board and attendees. Board member, Dr. Nix reported on the review of deaths at the hospital vs. midwives reporting requirements to a board and adding peer review to the licensing requirement. Dr. Guillory reported that a taskforce is tracking all maternal deaths in Texas including Midwifes and hospital births. Yvonne Feinleib reported that a few additional changes are still to come and the group hopefully have the new revised informed consent form.

Education and Examination workgroup. Board member Victoria Meinhardt reported that the workgroup meet prior to the meeting and discussed a possible rule change for approving Integrative Resuscitation of the Newborn as an approved course. State approval can add to the national approval of the course. The workgroup is developing rules language for approval at the next meeting.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item G., Recommendations for agenda items for next Board meeting. The board decided to place the following items on the next board meeting: Association of Texas Midwives reimbursement of board members travel expenses.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item D., Public Comment. There was no public comment.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item I. Discussion of date, time, and location of next Board meeting. The Board decided to hold its next meeting Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. in Austin, Texas.

Presiding Officer Meredith Rentz moved to agenda item J. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 2:07 p.m.

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Meredith Rentz, Presiding Officer

Midwives Advisory Board

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