Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act
This bill creates and expands federal grant programs within the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to increase capacity to provide emergency obstetric health services in rural areas or areas without practitioners or facilities specializing in obstetric services.
Specifically, HRSA must establish a program for providing grants to certain hospitals or consortiums that include hospitals in rural areas or areas with maternal health care professional shortages for training, developing a workforce, and purchasing equipment relating to obstetric emergencies. In addition, the bill requires HRSA’s Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health Capacity program to provide grants for training on emergency obstetric services for practitioners in rural health care facilities without dedicated obstetric units. HRSA must also establish a pilot program to provide grants to government entities for developing or improving telehealth access programs to support urgent maternal health care in rural facilities without a dedicated obstetric unit.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 380 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 380
To improve obstetric emergency care.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 4, 2025
Ms. Hassan (for herself, Ms. Collins, Mrs. Britt, and Ms. Smith)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To improve obstetric emergency care.
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 ``Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act''.
SEC. 2. OBSTETRIC EMERGENCY TRAINING PROGRAM.
Section 330O of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c-21)
is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ``; and'' and
inserting a semicolon;
(B) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(5) developing, and facilitating access to, an evidence-
based program to train practitioners in rural health care
facilities without dedicated obstetric units to provide
emergency obstetric services during pregnancy, labor, delivery,
or the postpartum period, including training on how to prepare
for, identify, stabilize, and safely transfer, as appropriate
and within the scope of practice of an individual practitioner,
a woman experiencing labor, delivery, obstetric hemorrhage,
severe hypertension, cardiac conditions, perinatal mental
health conditions, substance use, sepsis, or other conditions,
as appropriate.'';
(2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections
(d) and (e), respectively;
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Training Program for Eligible Practitioners in Rural Health
Care Facilities.--A training program described in subsection (a)(5)
shall include an assessment of obstetric training needs for rural
health care facilities without dedicated obstetric units. In developing
the training program, a recipient of a grant under such subsection
shall--
``(1) work in consultation with at least one representative
from a national medical society that has experience or
expertise in rural health care delivery in each of the fields
of gynecology and obstetrics, emergency medicine, family
medicine, and anesthesiology; and
``(2) facilitate access to obstetric readiness training via
regional training partnerships and technical assistance to
rural health care facilities.''; and
(4) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by adding at the
end the following: ``In addition to amounts appropriated under
the previous sentence, for grants for the purpose described in
subsection (a)(5), there are authorized to be appropriated
$5,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2026 through 2028''.
SEC. 3. GRANT FUNDING FOR EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES.
Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
254b et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 330A-2 the
following:
``SEC. 330A-3. PROGRAM OF SUPPORT FOR OBSTETRIC SERVICES.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall award grants, contracts, or
cooperative agreements to eligible entities to integrate obstetric
readiness training curriculum into rural health care settings, build
workforce capacity, and purchase equipment necessary to manage
obstetric emergencies.
``(b) Use of Funds.--A recipient of funds under this section shall
use such funds for the purpose described in subsection (a), which may
include any of the following:
``(1) Purchasing or providing equipment and technical
assistance to train practitioners who are not specialized in
obstetrics in preparing for, identifying, stabilizing, and
transferring, as appropriate and within the scope of practice
of the practitioner, individuals experiencing obstetric
emergencies.
``(2) Purchasing or providing equipment necessary to
prepare for, identify, stabilize, or transfer, as appropriate,
individuals experiencing obstetric emergencies.
``(3) Developing and carrying out protocols for transfer of
patients to other facilities and network engagement with other
facilities.
``(4) Hiring additional personnel or paying the salaries of
personnel.
``(5) Establishing training opportunities to enable non-
obstetric health professionals to gain exposure to, and
expertise in, the delivery of obstetric services, including
through clinical rotations, fellowships, or cross-training
clinicians in other specialties.
``(6) Enabling clinical educators to coordinate, develop,
and implement comprehensive interdisciplinary trainings,
including team-based simulation training for providers who may
need to respond to an obstetric emergency.
``(c) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, an entity shall--
``(1) be--
``(A) a rural hospital, critical access hospital
(as determined under section 1820(c)(2) of the Social
Security Act), or a rural emergency hospital (as
defined in section 1861(kkk)(2) of the Social Security
Act) that is located in a maternity care health
professional target area or a rural area (as defined by
the Secretary); or
``(B) a consortium of 3 entities that includes at
least 2 entities described in subparagraph (A); and
``(2) agree to carry out the program described in
subsection (a), in coordination with other federally funded
maternal and child health programs, to the extent practicable,
and in consultation with other maternal and child health
programs in the same geographic area.
``(d) Definitions.--In this section--
``(1) the term `maternity care health professional target
area' means a primary care health professional shortage area
that is experiencing a shortage of maternity health care
professionals, as identified under section 332(k); and
``(2) the term `rural area' has the meaning given such term
by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy.
``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there is authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for the period of
fiscal years 2026 through 2029.''.
SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM FOR TELECONSULTATION.
Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.
254b et seq.), is amended by inserting after section 330A-3, as added
by section 3, the following:
``SEC. 330A-4. PILOT PROGRAM FOR TELECONSULTATION.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Administrator
of the Health Resources and Services Administration and in consultation
with the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
shall award grants or cooperative agreements to States, political
subdivisions of States, and Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations (as
such terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act) to support the provision of urgent
maternal health care in rural facilities without a dedicated obstetric
unit, including by--
``(1) supporting the development of statewide or regional
maternal health care telehealth access programs; and
``(2) supporting the improvement of existing statewide or
regional maternal health care telehealth access programs
described in subsection (b).
``(b) Statewide or Regional Maternal Health Care Telehealth Access
Programs.--A maternal health care telehealth access program described
in this section, with respect to which an award under subsection (a)
may be used, shall--
``(1) be a statewide or regional network of maternal health
care teams that provide urgent support to rural non-obstetric
settings of care;
``(2) support and further develop organized State or
regional networks of maternal health care teams to provide
urgent consultative support to rural non-obstetric settings of
care;
``(3) conduct an assessment of urgent maternal health
consultation needs among providers in rural non-obstetric
settings of care;
``(4) provide assurances that the physicians responsive to
the tele-consultation line are credentialed within their
employing facility and can provide consultation where the
patient is receiving care consistent with State requirements to
provide care to individuals experiencing labor, delivery,
obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension in pregnancy and
postpartum, cardiac conditions related to or exacerbated by
pregnancy, perinatal mental health conditions, substance use
during pregnancy or the postpartum period, sepsis during
pregnancy or after pregnancy end, or other conditions, as
appropriate;
``(5) provide rapid statewide or regional clinical
telephone or telehealth consultations when requested between
the maternal care teams and providers in rural emergency non-
obstetric settings; and
``(6) provide information to health care providers about
available maternal health services for people in the community
and assist with referrals to specialty care and community or
behavioral health resources.
``(c) Reporting.--An entity receiving an award under this section
shall submit a report to the Secretary, in such manner and containing
such information as the Secretary may require, not later than 18 months
after initial receipt of the grant.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for the period of
fiscal years 2026 through 2029.''.
SEC. 5. STUDY ON OBSTETRIC UNITS IN RURAL AREAS.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall--
(1) conduct a study that maps maternity ward closures and
regional patterns of patient transport and examines models for
regional partnerships for rural obstetric care; and
(2) not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of
this Act, submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and
Commerce and the Committee on Education and Workforce of the
House of Representatives, a report on the results of the study
conducted under paragraph (1).
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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