NIH IMPROVE Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6238 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6238

 To establish the IMPROVE Initiative within the National Institutes of 
                                Health.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 2025

    Ms. Underwood (for herself and Mr. Fitzpatrick) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish the IMPROVE Initiative within the National Institutes of 
                                Health.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``NIH Implementing a Maternal health 
and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone'' or the ``NIH IMPROVE 
Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVE INITIATIVE.

    Part B of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 284 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 409K. IMPROVE INITIATIVE.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director of NIH shall continue to carry out 
a program to improve maternal health outcomes, to be known as the 
Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for 
Everyone Initiative or the `IMPROVE Initiative' (referred to in this 
section as the `Initiative').
    ``(b) Objectives.--The Initiative shall--
            ``(1) advance research to--
                    ``(A) reduce preventable causes of maternal 
                mortality and severe maternal morbidity;
                    ``(B) reduce health disparities related to maternal 
                health outcomes, including such disparities associated 
                with populations with disproportionately high rates of 
                maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity 
                relative to the national rate; and
                    ``(C) improve health for pregnant and postpartum 
                women before, during, and after pregnancy;
            ``(2) use an integrated approach to understand the factors, 
        including biological, behavioral, and other factors, that 
        affect maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity by 
        building an evidence base for improved outcomes in specific 
        regions of the United States; and
            ``(3) target health disparities associated with maternal 
        mortality and severe maternal morbidity by--
                    ``(A) implementing and evaluating community-based 
                interventions for disproportionately affected women; 
                and
                    ``(B) identifying risk factors and the underlying 
                biological mechanisms associated with leading causes of 
                maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in the 
                United States.
    ``(c) Implementation.--The Director of NIH may award grants or 
enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, or other transactions to 
carry out this section.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $73,400,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2026 through 2031.''.
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