WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2024 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

Senate Bill 739

By Senators Chapman, Woelfel, and Rucker

[Introduced February 9, 2024; referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §16-1-8a, relating to including postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorders in existing public health programs.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 1. State Public Health System.

§16-1-8a. Inclusion of postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorders in existing public health programs.

(a) The Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health, in partnership with the Bureau for Medical Services, shall, in its existing public health programs and services, educate health care professionals on the importance of early detection and timely diagnosis of postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorders through the use of assessment tools and effective care planning and care management at all stages of pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care for up to one year after birth and through the delivery of counseling and referral programs.

(b) The Bureau for Public Health, in partnership with the Bureau for Medical Services, shall, in its existing, relevant public health outreach programs, incorporate information to increase understanding and awareness of postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorder including information about the early signs of postpartum depression that should be discussed with health care professionals and the value of early detection and diagnosis, particularly among persons who are at greater risk of developing postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

(c) Any public awareness and/or educational outreach programs shall provide uniform, consistent guidance in nonclinical terms, with an emphasis on cultural relevancy and health literacy.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include postpartum depression, anxiety, psychosis, and obsessive-compulsive disorders in existing public health programs.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.