II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 783 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to distribute maternity care health 

professionals to health professional shortage areas identified as in need 

of maternity care health services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to distribute maternity care health professionals to health professional 

shortage areas identified as in need of maternity care 

health services. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Access to 

5 Maternity Care Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MATERNITY CARE HEALTH PROFESSIONAL TARGET 

2 AREAS. 

3 Section 332 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 254e) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(k)(1) The Secretary, acting through the Adminis7 trator of the Health Resources and Services Administra8 tion, shall identify, based on the data collected under para9 graph (3), maternity care health professional target areas 

10 that satisfy the criteria described in paragraph (2) for 

11 purposes of, in connection with receipt of assistance under 

12 this title, assigning to such identified areas maternity care 

13 health professionals who, without application of this sub14 section, would otherwise be eligible for such assistance. 

15 The Secretary shall distribute maternity care health pro16 fessionals within health professional shortage areas using 

17 the maternity care health professional target areas so 

18 identified. 

19 ‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the Secretary 

20 shall establish criteria for maternity care health profes21 sional target areas that identify geographic areas within 

22 health professional shortage areas that have a shortage 

23 of maternity care health professionals. 

24 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the Secretary 

25 shall collect and publish in the Federal Register data com26 paring the availability and need of maternity care health 


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1 services in health professional shortage areas and in areas 

2 within such health professional shortage areas. 

3 ‘‘(4) In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary 

4 shall seek input from relevant provider organizations, in5 cluding medical societies, organizations representing med6 ical facilities, and other organizations with expertise in 

7 maternity care. 

8 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘full 

9 scope maternity care health services’ includes during labor 

10 care, birthing, prenatal care, and postpartum care. 

11 ‘‘(6) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed 

12 as— 

13 ‘‘(A) requiring the identification of a maternity 

14 care health professional target area in an area not 

15 otherwise already designated as a health professional 

16 shortage area; or 

17 ‘‘(B) affecting the types of health professionals, 

18 without application of this subsection, otherwise eli19 gible for assistance, including a loan repayment or 

20 scholarship, pursuant to the application of this sec21 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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