Sponsors (46)
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve maternal health data collection processes and quality measures, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 25, 2026 by Sharice Davids · Last progress March 25, 2026
The bill invests targeted funding, expanded review scope, standardized data, and broader provider recognition to better detect and address maternal mortality and disparities—especially for Tribal and minority communities—while increasing federal spending and creating new administrative, privacy, and implementation challenges that may strain small programs and delay some benefits.
Pregnant and postpartum people (including those from racial and ethnic minority groups) will have maternal death reviews expanded to include suicide, overdose, and mental-health/substance-use causes up to 1 year postpartum, improving detection and understanding of pregnancy-associated deaths.
Medicaid beneficiaries, low-income people, and all pregnant/postpartum families gain clearer access to a broader set of recognized providers (midwives meeting ICM standards, APRNs, PAs, state‑accredited doulas, IBCLC lactation consultants, community health workers, peer supporters and navigators) and explicit Medicaid reimbursement for doulas, expanding care options and nonclinical supports.
States, Tribes, and local review committees receive sustained federal funding and reserved Tribal grants (authorizations for community engagement, tribal support, and targeted research), strengthening capacity for maternal mortality review, community engagement, and follow-up interventions.
Taxpayers and federal budgets face increased obligations from multiple authorizations (community engagement, research, and tribal studies), which could require offsets or add to federal outlays.
Small Tribal and State review committees, minority-serving institutions, and under-resourced health agencies may face significant administrative burdens from new reporting, consultation, application, and data-collection requirements, straining staff and potentially delaying reviews or participation.
Expanding data collection and broader data-sharing access for review committees could raise patient privacy and confidentiality concerns for pregnant and postpartum people if specific safeguards are not required.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes grants, research, and reviews to improve maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity data and community engagement, with targeted studies for AI/AN and funding authorizations for FY2027–2031.
Creates grant programs, research contracts, and data-review requirements to improve maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity data, with special emphasis on racial and ethnic minority groups and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. It authorizes HHS to fund community-engagement grants for State and Tribal maternal mortality review committees, directs agency reviews and stakeholder consultations on data and quality measures, requires a focused AI/AN study, and funds research at minority-serving institutions. Adds new review standards to include severe maternal morbidity and deaths from suicide/overdose related to pregnancy, requires community consultation in reviews, and defines key terms and eligible maternity and perinatal providers. It authorizes specified funding levels for the programs and studies from FY2027 through FY2031 but does not itself appropriate funds.