U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN) recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would authorize a total of $30 million each fiscal year from 2020 through 2024 to improve maternal healthcare in America.
“As a physician and a father of four, I understand the importance of ensuring the health of mothers during pregnancy and after the delivery of newborns,” Rep. Bucshon said on Sept. 5. “This is a critical time for both the mother and the child as a new life is brought into the world.”
Rep. Bucshon on Aug. 30 sponsored the Excellence in Maternal Health Act of 2019, H.R. 4215, with cosponsors including U.S. Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX), Susan Brooks (R-IN), Billy Long (R-MO), Greg Walden (R-OR), and André Carson (D-IN).
If enacted, H.R. 4215 would authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish grant programs to develop best practices to improve maternal healthcare quality, training and education toward reducing maternal mortality.
“We must do better in our approach across the entire nation, especially in rural America, to use best practices and provide necessary resources to stop preventable maternal mortality,” said Rep. Bucshon. “I believe this bipartisan legislation will benefit patients and communities that are currently struggling.”
Among numerous provisions, H.R. 4215 would authorize $10 million each fiscal year in 2020-2024 for innovation grants in maternal health that would be awarded to eligible entities.
H.R. 4215 also would authorize $5 million for each of fiscal years 2020-2024 to establish a grant program to accredited schools for training health care professionals to reduce and prevent discrimination in the provision of health care services related to prenatal care, labor care, birthing, and postpartum care.
And the bill would authorize $15 million for each of fiscal years 2020-2024 to establish or continue a grant program or to support perinatal quality collaboratives that would improve both perinatal care and health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women and their infants.