Texas launches public data dashboards on maternal, infant health

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- New public data dashboards on maternal health and infant health are now available for Texans to view as part of the Texas Department of State Health Services' Texas Health Data online suite.

DSHS launched the Maternal Health and Infant Mortality and Morbidity dashboards Monday.

The dashboards include information on maternal mortality and pregnancy risk factors like mental health, high blood pressure and smoking, according to DSHS. The infant health section covers infant mortality, causes of death and preterm birth. DSHS said the dashboards will be expanded over the coming months to add data on birth demographics, infant health practices, prenatal and postpartum care and severe maternal morbidity.

“These new dashboards are part of DSHS’s ongoing work to share the important public health data we have more widely and in a more user-friendly format,” said DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford. “Our goal is to allow researchers, policy makers and the public to join us in using this data to improve health in Texas.”

DSHS said it publishes the data in static reports and has for years, but the dashboards "bring it to life and make it interactive in a new way," and they can help contextualize the information.

Maternal mortality data reports are published biennially.

Background

The launch of the new dashboards follows a delay in 2022 of the publication of the report on maternal mortality data in Texas from 2019. The 2019 data report was set to be released on Sept. 1, 2022 but was not available until December that year.

Following that delay, some lawmakers and advocates pushed for legislation to be enacted to streamline the reporting process, and filed other bills aimed at positively impacting the maternal mortality rate in the state.

House Bill 663, filed in the 88th Texas Legislative Session, was related to the "confidentiality and reporting of certain maternal mortality information to the Department of State Health Services and to a work group establishing a maternal mortality and morbidity data registry." Its goal was to create a statewide maternal mortality and morbidity data registry. It passed in the Texas House of Representatives but ultimately died in committee.

The new maternal and infant health dashboards are the latest among several interactive data dashboards DSHS has published over the last year. There are also dashboards on fentanyl trends and the number of Texans affected by seasonal respiratory viruses.