Sponsors (4)
The bill directs steady federal funding to expand maternal health research and community‑based interventions—aiming to reduce maternal deaths and disparities over time—while requiring new taxpayer spending and risking delayed or administratively diverted benefits before frontline care improves.
Pregnant and postpartum women will receive expanded federally funded research aimed at reducing preventable maternal deaths and severe pregnancy-related complications.
Pregnant women in high‑maternal‑mortality communities—particularly racial and ethnic minorities and low‑income individuals—will see community‑based interventions evaluated and implemented to address disparities.
Researchers and state governments gain predictable, multi‑year funding ($73.4M/year FY2026–FY2031) to sustain maternal health research and program development.
Pregnant and postpartum women may not see immediate improvements because research grants and program evaluations can take years to translate into better clinical outcomes.
If implementation prioritizes research administration over service delivery, fewer resources may reach frontline community services or clinical care for pregnant people.
Taxpayers will bear increased federal spending of about $73.4 million per year for six years to fund the initiative.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes NIH to continue and fund the IMPROVE Initiative to research and test interventions to reduce preventable maternal mortality, severe morbidity, and disparities, FY2026–FY2031.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Lauren Underwood · Last progress November 20, 2025
Continues and funds an NIH maternal health research initiative focused on reducing preventable maternal deaths, severe maternal morbidity, and related health disparities by advancing research and testing community-based interventions. It authorizes $73,400,000 per year for fiscal years 2026–2031 and allows NIH to use grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, or other transactions to carry out the program. The program centers on integrated research into biological, behavioral, and social drivers of poor maternal outcomes in specific U.S. regions, identifying risk factors and mechanisms for leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, and implementing and evaluating interventions for populations with disproportionately high rates of poor outcomes.