Sponsors (3)
Official title: Amend the Public Health Service Act to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 25, 2026 by Tammy Baldwin · Last progress March 25, 2026
The bill aims to expand and diversify the perinatal workforce and improve culturally competent, extended postpartum care for underserved mothers — trading off meaningful access and equity gains against new federal spending, implementation costs, administrative burdens, and potential strain on small or resource-limited providers.
Women, pregnant and postpartum people in rural, low-income, and racial/ethnic minority communities will likely have improved access to maternity and perinatal care because the bill funds training, scholarships, recruitment priorities for HPSAs, and supports integration of midwives, PAs, perinatal health workers and other clinicians into care teams.
Pregnant and postpartum people, Medicaid beneficiaries, and families will have clearer coverage and a longer recognized postpartum care window (defined as one year), and doulas, lactation consultants, and other specified providers will be more explicitly eligible for maternity services.
Patients from racial and ethnic minority groups will gain more culturally and linguistically appropriate care as the bill requires bias/racism training, a 'culturally and linguistically congruent' care standard, and related curricula changes to improve provider cultural competency.
Taxpayers and the federal budget face increased spending obligations (including $15M/year authorizations) while the funds may be too small relative to national need, limiting scale and potentially increasing deficits or requiring offsets.
States, hospitals, insurers, and providers will incur administrative, credentialing, billing and hiring costs to implement new provider definitions, reporting, and workforce-integration recommendations, creating significant implementation burdens.
Smaller freestanding birth centers, resource‑limited nursing/midwifery programs, and new training programs could be disadvantaged by stricter education standards, international-standard expectations, and prioritization criteria tied to existing capacity.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes HHS studies and guidance and creates grant programs to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce, with reporting and $15M/year authorizations for FY2027–2031 for each program.
Creates federal programs and studies to grow, diversify, and improve the perinatal workforce and to promote respectful, culturally and linguistically congruent maternity care. It directs HHS to issue guidance and NIH to study best practices, establishes competitive grant programs for midwifery and other perinatal education and for perinatal nursing scholarships, requires GAO reporting on barriers and disparities, and defines key terms used in the Act. The bill authorizes five-year grants, requires annual reporting from grantees and multi-year reports to Congress on effectiveness, prioritizes recruitment of racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students and practice in high-need areas, and funds the programs with $15 million per year for each grant program for FY2027–FY2031.