AN ACT relating to freestanding birthing centers.

Create a new section of KRS Chapter 216B to define "freestanding birthing center"; require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to promulgate updated administrative regulations to establish licensure standards for freestanding birthing centers, including requiring accreditation by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers, compliance with the American Association of Birth Centers (AABC) Standards for Birth Centers, and consistent plans for transfer and safe transport to a hospital as needed; exempt a center from certificate-of-need requirements for establishing and licensing a freestanding birthing center; limit liability of center; amend KRS 216B.020, 196.173, 211.647, 211.660, 213.046, 216.2920, and 216.2970 to conform; provide that the Act may be cited as the Mary Carol Akers Birth Centers Act.