H.R. 9877

Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026

Sponsor: Raul Ruiz

26 cosponsors
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I Data collection and reporting

II Culturally and linguistically appropriate health and health care

III Health workforce diversity

A Diversifying the health care workplace

B Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Behavioral and Mental Health Workforce

C ACCESS in Mental Health Act

D Developing the Community Health Workforce Act

IV Improving Health Care Access and Quality

A Reducing Barriers to Accessing Care

B Improvement of Coverage

C Expansion of Access

1 General Provisions

2 Rural

3 Indian Communities

4 Providers

5 Dental

D Advancing Health Equity Through Payment and Delivery Reform

E Health Empowerment Zones

F Equitable Health Care for All

G Investing in Equity

H Miscellaneous

I Territories Health Equity

1 Medicare

A Part A

B Part B

C Medicare Advantage (Part C)

D Part D

2 Miscellaneous

V Improving health outcomes for women, gender-diverse people, children, and families

A Underserved communities

B Pregnancy screening

C Pregnancy-Related care

Sec. 5215. Consumer education campaign

Section 229(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 237a(b)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (6), by striking and at the end;

(2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(8) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this paragraph, develop and implement a 4-year culturally and linguistically appropriate multimedia consumer education campaign that is designed to promote understanding and acceptance of evidence-based maternity practices and models of care for optimal maternity outcomes among individuals of childbearing ages and families of such individuals and that—

(A) highlights the importance of protecting, promoting, and supporting the innate capacities of childbearing individuals and their newborns for childbirth, breastfeeding, and attachment;

(B) promotes understanding of the importance of using obstetric interventions when medically necessary and when supported by strong, high-quality evidence;

(C) highlights the widespread overuse of maternity practices that have been shown to have benefit when used appropriately in situations of medical necessity, but which can expose pregnant individuals, infants, or both to risk of harm if used routinely and indiscriminately;

(D) emphasizes the noninvasive maternity practices that have proven correlation or may be associated with improvement in outcomes with no detrimental side effects, and are significantly underused in the United States, including smoking cessation programs in pregnancy, group model prenatal care, continuous labor support, nonsupine positions for birth, and external version to turn breech babies at term;

(E) educates consumers about—

(i) the qualifications of licensed providers of maternity care, including obstetrician-gynecologists, family physicians, certified nurse-midwives, certified midwives, and certified professional midwives; and

(ii) the best evidence about the safety, satisfaction, outcomes, and costs of such providers;

(F) informs consumers about the best available research comparing birth center births, planned home births, and hospital births, including information about each setting’s safety, satisfaction, outcomes, and costs;

(G) fosters participation in high-quality, evidence-based childbirth education that promotes a healthy and safe approach to pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenting; is taught by certified educators, peer counselors, and health professionals; and promotes informed decision making by childbearing individuals;

(H) informs consumers about—

(i) the effects of systemic, institutional, and interpersonal racism on the health, well-being, and outcomes of birthing people;

(ii) the importance of respectful, culturally and linguistically appropriate, and culturally congruent care; and

(iii) the value of community-based and community-led maternal care and support; and

(I) is pilot tested for consumer comprehension, cultural sensitivity, and acceptance of the messages across geographically, racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse populations;

D Federal agency coordination on maternal health

E Reproductive and Sexual Health

F Children’s Health

G Elder Care

H Miscellaneous provisions

VI Mental health and substance use disorders

A Access to care and funding streams

B Interprofessional care

C Workforce development

D Children’s mental health

E Community-Based care

F Reports

G Miscellaneous provisions

VII Addressing high-impact minority diseases

A Cancer

B Viral hepatitis and liver cancer control and prevention

C Acquired bone marrow failure diseases

D Cardiovascular disease, chronic disease, obesity, and other disease issues

E HIV/AIDS

F Diabetes

G Lung disease

H Tuberculosis

I Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases

J Sleep and circadian rhythm disorders

K Kidney disease research, surveillance, prevention, and treatment

L Diversity in clinical trials

M Additional provisions addressing high-impact minority diseases

N Health Equity and Rare Disease Act

O Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention

P New Era of Preventing End-Stage Kidney Disease

VIII Health Information Technology

A Reducing Health Disparities Through Health IT

B Modifications To Achieve Parity in Existing Programs

C Additional Research and Studies

D Closing Gaps in Funding To Adopt Certified EHRs

E Expanding Access to Telehealth Services

IX Accountability and Evaluation

X Addressing Social Determinants and Improving Environmental Justice

A In General

B Gun Violence

C Nutrition for women, children, families

1 Senior hunger prevention

2 Closing the meal gap

D Universal school meals

1 School breakfast program

2 School lunch program

3 Elementary and secondary education data

4 Amendments to other programs and laws

XI Protections to combat regulatory harm to health equity