Summary#
This bill, the Maternal Health Pandemic Response Act, would provide federal funding and direct actions to improve data, research, guidance, and care for people who are pregnant or in the year after pregnancy during declared public health emergencies. It funds specific CDC programs and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for surveillance, reviews, surveys, and research. It requires public reporting of pregnancy- and postpartum-related data during emergencies, regular updates, privacy protections, and guidance to States and laboratories. The bill also directs the CDC to run public education campaigns and creates a task force to produce recommendations for respectful, equitable, and safe maternity care during emergencies.
What it means for you#
- Public data: The CDC and CMS must make deidentified data on testing, cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and other pregnancy- and infant-related outcomes publicly available and disaggregate it by race, ethnicity, gender, language, geography, and socioeconomic status.
- Timing: The data must be updated at least monthly during a public health emergency and at least once within one month after the emergency ends.
- Privacy: Data must be deidentified and comply with HIPAA and other privacy laws.
- Guidance and outreach: Within 30 days of a public health emergency declaration, the Secretary must issue guidance to ensure laboratories get relevant pregnancy and demographic information. The CDC must run education campaigns aimed at pregnant and postpartum people, their employers, and providers.
- Care recommendations: A task force will produce multilingual federal recommendations on respectful, responsive, and empowering maternity care during emergencies. Topics include telehealth, testing, newborn separation, breastfeeding, midwife licensure and reimbursement, doula coverage under Medicaid, mental health and substance use care, addressing racism and bias, and supports such as child care during appointments.
Expenses#
The bill authorizes the following appropriations (amounts specified in the bill):
- $100,000,000 for the CDC's Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies program.
- $30,000,000 for the CDC's ERASE MM (Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality) program.
- $45,000,000 for the CDC's PRAMS (Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System) to add questions, move toward electronic surveys, and expand reach.
- $15,000,000 for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to support research on interventions for maternal and infant health during public health emergencies.
No publicly available information on additional costs, offsets, or how funds would be distributed beyond what is written in the bill text.
Proponents' View#
No publicly available information.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.