appropriations, award cooperative agreements for the es-
tablishment or support of regional centers of excellence ad-
dressing implicit bias and cultural competency in patient- 
provider interactions education for the purpose of enhanc-
ing and improving how health care professionals are edu-
cated in implicit bias and delivering culturally competent 
health care. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a cooper-
ative agreement under subsection (a), an entity shall— 
‘‘(1) be an entity specified by the Secretary that 
provides educational opportunities for students in a 
health care profession, which may include a health 
system, teaching hospital, birthing center, commu-
nity health center, physician’s office, medical school, 
school of public health, or any other health profes-
sional school or a program at an institution of high-
er education focused on the prevention, treatment, 
or recovery of health conditions that contribute to 
maternal mortality and the prevention of maternal 
mortality; 
‘‘(2) demonstrate community engagement and 
participation through community partners such as 
mental health counselors and social workers; and 
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‘‘(3) provide to the Secretary such information, 
at such time and in such manner, as the Secretary 
may require. 
‘‘(c) DIVERSITY.—In awarding a cooperative agree-
ment under subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into 
account any regional differences among eligible entities 
and make an effort to ensure geographic diversity among 
award recipients. 
‘‘(d) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 
‘‘(1) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 
shall make publicly available on the Internet website 
of the Department of Health and Human Services 
information submitted to the Secretary under sub-
section (b)(3). 
‘‘(2) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall evalu-
ate each regional center of excellence established or 
supported pursuant to subsection (a) and dissemi-
nate the findings resulting from each such evalua-
tion to the appropriate public and private entities. 
‘‘(e) MATERNAL MORTALITY DEFINED.—In this sec-
tion, the term ‘maternal mortality’ means death that oc-
curs to a woman during pregnancy or within the one-year 
period following the end of such pregnancy. 
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—For 
purposes of carrying out this section, there is authorized 
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to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2019 through 2023.’’. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) MATERNAL MORTALITY.—The term ‘‘mater-
nal mortality’’ means death that occurs to a woman 
during pregnancy or within the one-year period fol-
lowing the end of such pregnancy. 
(2) SEVERE MATERNAL MORBIDITY.—The term 
‘‘severe maternal morbidity’’ includes unexpected 
outcomes of labor and delivery that result in signifi-
cant short-term or long-term consequences to a 
woman’s health. 
Æ 
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