II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 628 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the designation 

of maternity care health professional shortage areas. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2015 

Mr. KIRK (for himself and Ms. BALDWIN) 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 provide for 

the designation of maternity care health professional 

shortage areas. 

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 SHORT2 AGE 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 designate maternity care health professional 

9 shortage areas in the States and at least annually there10 after review and, as necessary, revise such designations. 

11 ‘‘(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), and in applying 

12 subsection (b) pursuant to paragraph (4), the Secretary 

13 shall seek input from relevant provider organizations, in14 cluding medical societies, organizations representing med15 ical facilities, and other organizations with expertise in 

16 maternity care. 

17 ‘‘(3) In applying subsection (d), pursuant to para18 graph (4), the Secretary shall collect and publish in the 

19 Federal Register data on health care professional shortage 

20 areas based on professional category of maternal health 

21 professionals providing full scope maternity health care by 

22 provider type as well as geographic region. Such data shall 

23 be presented in a manner to compare availability and need 

24 of such professionals by such professional category and ge25 ographic region. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The provisions of subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), 

2 (f), (g), (h), (i), and (j) (other than (j)(1)(B)) of this sec3 tion shall apply to the designation of a maternity care 

4 health professional shortage area under this subsection in 

5 a similar manner and extent as such provisions apply to 

6 the designation of health professional shortage areas 

7 under subsection (a), except— 

8 ‘‘(A) in applying subsection (b)(3), the ref9 erence in such subsection to ‘physicians’ shall be 

10 deemed to be a reference to physicians and other 

11 health professionals as providing maternity care eli12 gible for loan repayment under this part who provide 

13 full scope maternity care; 

14 ‘‘(B) in applying subsection (d)— 

15 ‘‘(i) the reference in paragraph (2) of such 

16 subsection to ‘July 1 of 1991’ shall be deemed 

17 to be a reference to ‘July 1 of 2016’; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the descriptive list required under 

19 such paragraph, with respect to a maternity 

20 care health professional shortage area des21 ignated under paragraph (1), shall include— 

22 ‘‘(I) population groups in the area 

23 that would benefit from full scope mater24 nity care health services; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the providers and medical facili2 ties that provide such services to such 

3 groups in such area; and 

4 ‘‘(C) in applying such provisions of subsections 

5 (b), (c), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), and (j), a reference to 

6 an area, population group, or facility shall be 

7 deemed to be a reference to an area or population 

8 group described in paragraph (5). 

9 ‘‘(5) For purposes of this subsection: 

10 ‘‘(A) The term ‘maternity care health profes11 sional shortage area’ means— 

12 ‘‘(i) an area in an urban or rural area 

13 (which need not conform to the geographic 

14 boundaries of a political subdivision and which 

15 is a rational area for the delivery of health serv16 ices) which the Secretary determines has a 

17 shortage of providers of full scope maternity 

18 care health services; 

19 ‘‘(ii) an area in an urban or rural area 

20 (which need not conform to the geographic 

21 boundaries of a political subdivision and which 

22 is a rational area for the delivery of health serv23 ices) which the Secretary determines has a 

24 shortage of hospital or birth center labor and 

25 delivery units; or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a population group which the Sec2 retary determines has such a shortage of mater3 nal providers or facilities. 

4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘full scope maternity care health 

5 services’ includes during labor care, birthing, pre6 natal care, and postpartum care. 

7 ‘‘(C) The term ‘medical facility’ has the mean8 ing given such term in subsection (a)(2) and in9 cludes a freestanding birth center, as defined in sec10 tion 1905(l)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act.’’. 

Æ 


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