Creates the Louisiana Women's Health Consortium (EG INCREASE GF EX See Note)

House Bill 944 establishes the Louisiana Women's Health Consortium as a permanent entity within the Louisiana Department of Health's office on women's health and community health by enacting a new section in the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The consortium comprises fifteen voting members drawn from state government agencies, medical institutions, and healthcare organizations including the surgeon general or designee, executive director of the State Board of Medical Examiners or designee, representatives from Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Tulane School of Medicine, Ochsner Health System, Woman's Hospital of Baton Rouge, and members of the state legislature, along with specialists in nursing, epidemiology, and consumer health. The statute also establishes six nonvoting members from pharmacy schools and additional healthcare systems. The consortium operates under governance rules it must adopt, holds its domicile in East Baton Rouge Parish while maintaining the ability to meet elsewhere in the state, requires quarterly public meetings absent contrary vote, and mandates that participating departments provide staff support for scheduling, notice, and documentation of meetings and information.

The legislation directly affects the leadership and operations of Louisiana's health policy institutions, particularly the Department of Health, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, major teaching hospitals and health systems, and state legislative committees overseeing health and welfare matters. Individual members serve without compensation except for expense reimbursement according to their appointing entity's guidelines and serve at the pleasure of appointing authorities. The consortium's functions require it to develop a Funding Priority Program for Women's Health Initiatives identifying current funding gaps and future needs, create an Interagency Women's Health Agenda assessing state capacity across research, medical education, and patient access, and serve as a resource on women's health issues across all life stages including perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. The statute obligates the consortium to submit annual written reports to the governor, legislature, and relevant legislative committees describing activities, thereby creating ongoing accountability mechanisms for women's health policy coordination at the state level.

The bill operates within Louisiana's existing public health statutory framework codified in Title 40 of the Revised Statutes and the Department of Health's administrative structure. It creates a statutory advisory body rather than a regulatory agency, allowing the consortium to make recommendations and coordinate information sharing without direct regulatory authority over medical practice or licensing, which remains within the Board of Medical Examiners' purview under existing law. The consortium's requirement to maintain confidentiality of provided information incorporates Louisiana's existing medical records privacy standards and laws governing governmental records. The statute establishes election procedures for consortium leadership with the Pennington Biomedical Research Center member serving as initial chairperson for two years, after which the consortium elects chairpersons biennially, and requires majority votes of voting members for consortium action with a quorum consisting of a majority of voting members. This structure creates a collaborative governance model that supplements rather than replaces existing health department functions while maintaining participation from both governmental and private sector stakeholders in women's health policy development.