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Introduced March 25, 2026 by Tammy Baldwin · Last progress March 25, 2026
Creates federal guidance, studies, and two competitive grant programs to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce (maternity care providers, perinatal health workers, and advanced perinatal nurses). It directs HHS and NIH to issue guidance and complete a study on respectful, culturally and linguistically congruent maternity care, funds scholarships and program expansion for accredited midwifery, perinatal, PA, and advanced nursing education, requires recurring GAO reviews of education and access barriers, and establishes definitions and reporting requirements. The bill prioritizes recruiting and retaining students and faculty from racially and ethnically diverse and underserved communities, supports clinical placements in Health Professional Shortage Areas and locations with high maternal morbidity and mortality, authorizes annual funding for both grant streams for fiscal years 2027–2031, and directs HHS and GAO to produce multiple public reports on program effectiveness and barriers to care.
The bill increases access to and cultural competence of perinatal care by expanding postpartum coverage, diversifying and training the workforce, and improving federal data/guidance — but it relies on modest federal funding, nonbinding recommendations, and new administrative/implementation requirements that may limit reach and add costs to states and programs.
Pregnant and postpartum people — especially low-income, Medicaid enrollees, and racial/ethnic minority groups — would gain clearer and expanded access to postpartum care and a broader set of perinatal supports (e.g., doulas, community health workers, navigators, interpreters) including potential Medicaid reimbursement and a defined 1-year postpartum period.
Students from diverse and underserved backgrounds — and the perinatal workforce overall — would receive scholarships, training, and pipeline supports that increase the number of perinatal clinicians (midwives, APRNs, PAs, perinatal health workers) and improve staffing in Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Patients — especially racial/ethnic minorities and people with limited English proficiency — would be more likely to receive culturally and linguistically concordant, bias-aware maternity care due to required training, guidance, and emphasis on culturally congruent services.
Taxpayers, state budgets, and Medicaid programs may face higher costs — and the authorized $15M/year is modest — so federal funding and potential increases in Medicaid reimbursement could be insufficient to scale nationwide improvements and may pressure other spending priorities.
State agencies, educational programs, hospitals, and federal staff could incur substantial administrative and reporting burdens (accreditation, data/reporting, recruitment/prioritization requirements), straining smaller programs and state systems.
Because many provisions are guidance or nonbinding GAO/HHS recommendations, implementation and impact may be uneven across states and programs, leaving disparities unchanged in areas that do not adopt the measures.