July 31, 2025
Mrs. Capito (for herself, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Booker, Ms. Smith, and Mr. Tillis) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize support for State-based maternal mortality review committees, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to disseminate best practices on maternal mortality prevention to hospitals, State-based professional societies, and perinatal quality collaboratives, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Section 1. Preventing maternal deaths
(a) Maternal mortality review committee
Section 317K(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12(d)) is amended—
(1)
in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting (including obstetricians and gynecologists)
after clinical specialties
; and
(2)
in paragraph (3)(A)(i)—
(A)
in subclause (I), by striking as applicable
and inserting if available
; and
(B)
in subclause (III), by striking , as appropriate
and inserting and coordinating with death certifiers to improve the collection of death record reports and the quality of death records, including by amending cause-of-death information on a death certificate, as appropriate
.
(b) Best practices relating to the prevention of maternal mortality
Section 317K of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12) is amended—
(1)
by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and
(2)
by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
(e) Best practices relating to the prevention of maternal mortality
(1) In general
The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall, in consultation with the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, disseminate to hospitals, State professional society groups, and perinatal quality collaboratives, best practices on how to prevent maternal mortality and morbidity that consider and reflect best practices identified through other relevant Federal maternal health programs.
(2) Frequency
The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall disseminate the best practices referred to in paragraph (1) not less frequently than once per fiscal year.
(c) Extension
Subsection (g) of section 317K of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12), as redesignated by subsection (b), is amended by striking $58,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023
and inserting $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030
.