Postpartum Depression Education and Information

(a) The commissioner of health shall work with health care facilities, licensed health and mental health care professionals, the women, infants, and children (WIC) program, mental health advocates, consumers, and families in the state to develop materials and information about postpartum depression, including treatment resources, and develop policies and procedures to comply with this section. (b) Physicians, traditional midwives, and other licensed health care professionals providing prenatal care to women must have available to women and their families information about postpartum depression. (c) Hospitals and other health care facilities in the state must provide departing new mothers and fathers and other family members, as appropriate, with written information about postpartum depression, including its symptoms, methods of coping with the illness, and treatment resources. (d) Information about postpartum depression, including its symptoms, potential impact on families, and treatment resources, must be available at WIC sites. (e) The commissioner of health, in collaboration with the commissioner of human services and to the extent authorized by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall review the materials and information related to postpartum depression to determine their effectiveness in transmitting the information in a way that reduces racial health disparities as reported in surveys of maternal attitudes and experiences before, during, and after pregnancy, including those conducted by the commissioner of health. The commissioner shall implement changes to reduce racial health disparities in the information reviewed, as needed, and ensure that women of color are receiving the information.