S. 5515
CARE for Moms Act
Sponsor: Richard J. Durbin · 0 cosponsors
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Community Access, Resources, and Empowerment for Moms Act or the CARE for Moms Act
This bill establishes and expands federal programs to increase access to health care for pregnant and postpartum women, particularly those in underserved communities. It also increases and expands excise taxes on tobacco products.
The bill requires state Medicaid programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover women for 12 months postpartum and to cover dental services for pregnant and postpartum women The bill also allows for two years of postpartum coverage for women under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Also, the bill establishes grant programs for
- state-based collaboratives to improve perinatal health care,
- mobile health units for obstetric care in rural and underserved communities,
- the doula workforce, and
- regional centers of excellence to educate health professionals on implicit bias and culturally competent care.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must publish information on Medicaid and CHIP benefits for pregnant and postpartum women and report to Congress on maternal health needs and expenditures.
In addition, hospitals, as a condition of Medicare participation, must notify HHS at least 90 days before closing an obstetric unit.
Additionally, the bill increases existing excise taxes on cigarettes, equalizes tax rates among all other tobacco products, and establishes annual inflation adjustments. It also establishes new excise taxes for other tobacco products deemed as such by the Food and Drug Administration that are not already subject to such federal taxes.
Text of the bill
Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
320C. Grants for rural obstetric mobile health units
(a) In general. The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (referred to in this section as the Secretary), shall establish a 5-year pilot program under which the Secretary shall make grants to States—
(1) to purchase and equip rural mobile health units for the purpose of providing pre-conception, pregnancy, postpartum, and obstetric emergency services in rural and underserved communities;
(2) to train providers, including obstetrician-gynecologists, certified nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives, to operate and provide obstetric services, including training and planning for obstetric emergencies, in such mobile health units; and
(3) to address access issues, including social determinants of health and wrap-around clinical and community services, including nutrition, housing, lactation services, and transportation support and referrals.
(b) No sharing of data with law enforcement. As a condition of receiving a grant under this section, a State shall submit to the Secretary an assurance that the State will not make available to Federal or State law enforcement any personally identifiable information regarding any pregnant or postpartum individual collected pursuant to such grant.
(c) Grant duration. The period of a grant under this section shall not exceed 5 years.
(d) Reporting requirements
(1) In general. Not later than 3 years after the date on which a State receives a grant under this section, and not later than 6 years after such date, such State shall submit to the Secretary a report that describes the results of the activities carried out pursuant to the grant, including—
(A) relevant information and relevant quantitative indicators of the success of such activities in improving the standard of care and maternal health outcomes for individuals in rural and underserved communities who are seen for pre-conception, pregnancy, or postpartum visits in the rural mobile health units, stratified by the categories of data described in paragraph (2);
(B) relevant qualitative evaluations from individuals receiving pre-conception, pregnant, or postpartum care from rural mobile health units provided through the grant, including measures of patient-reported experience of care and measures of patient-reported issues with access to care without such rural mobile health unit; and
(C) strategies to sustain such activities beyond the duration of the grant and expand such activities to other rural and underserved communities.
(2) Categories of data. The categories of data described in this paragraph are the following:
(A) Race, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity, primary language, age, geography, disability status, and insurance status.
(B) Number of visits provided for preconception, prenatal, or postpartum care.
(C) Number of repeat visits provided for preconception, prenatal, or postpartum care.
(D) Number of screenings or tests provided for smoking, substance use, hypertension, sexually transmitted diseases, diabetes, HIV, depression, intimate partner violence, Pap smears, and pregnancy.
(3) Data privacy protection. The reports required under paragraph (1) shall not contain any personally identifiable information regarding any pregnant or postpartum individual.
(e) Evaluation. Not later than December 31, 2032, the Secretary shall conduct an evaluation of the pilot program under this section to determine the impact of the pilot program with respect to—
(1) the effectiveness of the grants awarded under this section to improve maternal health outcomes in rural and underserved communities, with data stratified by race, ethnicity, primary language, socioeconomic status, geography, insurance type, and such other factors as the Secretary determines appropriate;
(2) spending on maternity care by States participating in the pilot program;
(3) to the maximum extent practicable, qualitative and quantitative measures of patient experience; and
(4) any other areas of assessment that the Secretary determines relevant.
(f) Report. Not later than 1 year after the completion of the pilot program under this section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress, and make publicly available, a report that contains—
(1) the results of the evaluation conducted under subsection (e); and
(2) recommendations regarding whether the pilot program should be continued and expanded on a national basis.
(g) Authorization of appropriations. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031.