I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6165 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve data collection with 
respect to maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2020 
Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas (for herself, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. CLAY, 
Ms. SCANLON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. 
MOORE, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. PRESSLEY, and Ms. HAALAND) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Re-
sources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve data 
collection with respect to maternal mortality and severe 
maternal morbidity, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Data to Save Moms 
Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR MATERNAL MORTALITY REVIEW 
COMMITTEES TO PROMOTE REPRESENTA-
TIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 317K(d) of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12(d)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(9) GRANTS
TO
PROMOTE
REPRESENTATIVE 
COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT
IN
MATERNAL
MOR-
TALITY REVIEW COMMITTEES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary may, 
using funds made available pursuant to sub-
paragraph (C), provide assistance to an applica-
ble maternal mortality review committee of a 
State, Indian tribe, tribal organization, or 
urban Indian organization (as such term is de-
fined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care 
Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603))— 
‘‘(i) to select for inclusion in the mem-
bership of such a committee community 
members from the State, Indian tribe, trib-
al organization, or urban Indian organiza-
tion by— 
‘‘(I) prioritizing community mem-
bers who can increase the diversity of 
the committee’s membership with re-
spect to race and ethnicity, location, 
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and professional background, includ-
ing members with non-clinical experi-
ences; and 
‘‘(II) to the extent applicable, 
using funds reserved under subsection 
(f) to address barriers to maternal 
mortality review committee participa-
tion for community members, includ-
ing required training, transportation 
barriers, compensation, and other sup-
ports as may be necessary; 
‘‘(ii) to establish initiatives to conduct 
outreach and community engagement ef-
forts within communities throughout the 
State or Tribe to seek input from commu-
nity members on the work of such mater-
nal mortality review committee, with a par-
ticular focus on outreach to minority 
women; and 
‘‘(iii) to release public reports assess-
ing— 
‘‘(I) the pregnancy-related death 
and pregnancy-associated death review 
processes of the maternal mortality 
review committee, with a particular 
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focus on the maternal mortality re-
view committee’s sensitivity to the 
unique 
circumstances 
of 
minority 
women who have suffered pregnancy- 
related deaths; and 
‘‘(II) the impact of the use of 
funds made available pursuant to 
paragraph (C) on increasing the diver-
sity of the maternal mortality review 
committee membership and promoting 
community 
engagement 
efforts 
throughout the State or Tribe. 
‘‘(B) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Sec-
retary shall provide (either directly through the 
Department of Health and Human Services or 
by contract) technical assistance to any mater-
nal mortality review committee receiving a 
grant under this paragraph on best practices 
for increasing the diversity of the maternal 
mortality review committee’s membership and 
for conducting effective community engagement 
throughout the State or Tribe. 
‘‘(C) 
AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—In addition to any funds made avail-
able under subsection (f), there are authorized 
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to be appropriated to carry out this paragraph 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 
through 2025.’’. 
(b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—Section 317K(f) of 
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12(f)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Of the 
amount made available under the preceding sentence for 
a fiscal year, not less than $1,500,000 shall be reserved 
for grants to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, or urban 
Indian organizations (as such term is defined in section 
4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 
1603))’’. 
SEC. 3. DATA COLLECTION AND REVIEW. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 317K(d)(3)(A)(i) of the 
Public 
Health 
Service 
Act 
(42 
U.S.C. 
247b– 
12(d)(3)(A)(i)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subclauses (II) and (III) 
as subclauses (V) and (VI), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subclause (I) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(II) to the extent practicable, 
reviewing cases of severe maternal 
morbidity in which the patient re-
ceived a transfusion of four or more 
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units of blood and was admitted to an 
intensive care unit; 
‘‘(III) to the extent practicable, 
consulting with local community-based 
organizations 
representing 
women 
from demographic groups dispropor-
tionately impacted by poor maternal 
health outcomes to ensure that, in ad-
dition to clinical factors, non-clinical 
factors that might have contributed to 
a pregnancy-related death are appro-
priately considered;’’. 
(b) SEVERE MATERNAL MORBIDITY DEFINED.—Sec-
tion 317K(e) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
247b–12(e)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) the term ‘severe maternal morbidity’ 
means one or more unexpected outcomes of labor 
and delivery that result in significant short-term or 
long-term consequences to a woman’s health.’’. 
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SEC. 4. TASK FORCE ON MATERNAL HEALTH DATA AND 
QUALITY MEASURES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall establish a task force to be 
known as the ‘‘Task Force on Maternal Health Data and 
Quality Measures’’ (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Task Force’’). 
(b) DUTIES OF TASK FORCE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall use all 
available relevant information, including information 
from State-level sources, to prepare and submit a re-
port containing the following: 
(A) An evaluation of current State and 
Tribal practices for maternal health, maternal 
mortality, and severe maternal morbidity data 
collection and dissemination, including consider-
ation of— 
(i) the timeliness of processes for 
amending a death certificate when new in-
formation pertaining to the death becomes 
available to reflect whether the death was 
a pregnancy-related death; 
(ii) maternal health data collected 
with electronic health records, including 
data on race and ethnicity; 
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(iii) the barriers preventing States 
from correlating maternal outcome data 
with race and ethnicity data; 
(iv) processes for determining the 
cause of a pregnancy-associated death in 
States that do not have a maternal mor-
tality review committee; 
(v) whether maternal mortality review 
committees include multidisciplinary and 
diverse membership (as described in sec-
tion 317K(d)(1)(A) of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12(d)(1)(A)); 
(vi) whether members of maternal 
mortality review committees participate in 
trainings on bias, racism, or discrimina-
tion, and the quality of such trainings; 
(vii) the extent to which States have 
implemented systematic processes of listen-
ing to the stories of pregnant and postpar-
tum women and their family members, 
with a particular focus on minority women 
and their family members, to fully under-
stand the causes of, and inform potential 
solutions to, the maternal mortality and se-
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vere maternal morbidity crisis within their 
respective States; 
(viii) the consideration of social deter-
minants of health by maternal mortality 
review committees when examining the 
causes of pregnancy-associated and preg-
nancy-related deaths; 
(ix) the legal barriers preventing the 
collation of State maternity care data; 
(x) the effectiveness of data collection 
and reporting processes in separating preg-
nancy-associated deaths from pregnancy- 
related deaths; and 
(xi) the current Federal, State, local, 
and Tribal funding support for the activi-
ties referred to in clauses (i) through (x). 
(B) An assessment of whether the funding 
referred to in subparagraph (A)(xi) is adequate 
for States to carry out optimal data collection 
and dissemination processes with respect to ma-
ternal health, maternal mortality, and severe 
maternal morbidity. 
(C) An evaluation of current quality meas-
ures for maternity care, including prenatal 
measures, labor and delivery measures, and 
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postpartum measures up to one year postpar-
tum. Such evaluation shall be conducted in con-
sultation with the National Quality Forum and 
shall include consideration of— 
(i) effective quality measures for ma-
ternity care used by hospitals, health sys-
tems, birth centers, health plans, and other 
relevant entities; 
(ii) the sufficiency of current outcome 
measures used to evaluate maternity care 
for testing and validating new maternal 
health care payment and service delivery 
models; 
(iii) quality measures for the child-
birth experiences of women that other 
countries effectively use; 
(iv) current maternity care quality 
measures that may be eliminated because 
they are not achieving their intended ef-
fect; 
(v) barriers preventing maternity care 
providers from implementing quality meas-
ures that are aligned from best practices; 
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pregnant and postpartum women in hos-
pitals, health systems, and birth centers, 
and for incorporating such racially and 
ethnically stratified data in maternity care 
quality measures; 
(xi) the extent to which maternity 
care quality measures account for the 
unique experiences of minority women and 
their families; and 
(xii) the extent to which hospitals, 
health systems, and birth centers are im-
plementing existing maternity care quality 
measures. 
(D) Recommendations on authorizing addi-
tional funds to improve maternal mortality re-
view committees and relevant maternal health 
initiatives by the agencies and organizations 
within the Department of Health and Human 
Services. 
(E) Recommendations for new authorities 
that may be granted to maternal mortality re-
view committees to be able to— 
(i) access records from other Federal 
and State agencies and departments that 
may be necessary to identify causes of 
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pregnancy-associated 
deaths 
that 
are 
unique to women from specific populations, 
such as women veterans and women who 
are incarcerated; and 
(ii) work with relevant experts who 
are not members of the maternal mortality 
review committee to assist in the review of 
pregnancy-associated deaths of women 
from specific populations, such as women 
veterans and women who are incarcerated. 
(F) Recommendations to improve current 
quality measures for maternity care, including 
recommendations on updating the Pregnancy & 
Delivery Care measures on the Hospital Com-
pare website of the Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services or any successor website, 
with a particular focus on racial and ethnic dis-
parities in maternal health outcomes. 
(G) Recommendations to improve the co-
ordination by the Department of Health and 
Human Services of the efforts undertaken by 
the agencies and organizations within the De-
partment related to maternal health data and 
quality measures. 
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(2) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date on which a majority of the members 
of the Task Force have been appointed, the Task 
Force shall publish in the Federal Register a notice 
for public comment period of 90 days, beginning on 
the date of publication, on the duties and activities 
of the Task Force. 
(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Task Force shall be 
composed of 18 members appointed by the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services. The Secretary shall 
give special consideration to individuals who are rep-
resentative of populations most affected by maternal 
mortality and severe maternal morbidity. 
(2) MEMBER CRITERIA.—To be eligible to be 
appointed as a member of the Task Force, an indi-
vidual shall be— 
(A) a woman who has experienced severe 
maternal morbidity; 
(B) a family member of a woman who had 
a pregnancy-related death; 
(C) an individual who provides non-clinical 
support to women from pregnancy through the 
postpartum period, such as a doula, community 
health worker, peer supporter, certified lacta-
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tion consultant, nutritionist or dietitian, social 
worker, home visitor, or a patient navigator; 
(D) a leader of a community-based organi-
zation that addresses adverse maternal health 
outcomes with a specific focus on racial and 
ethnic disparities; 
(E) an academic researcher in a field or 
policy area related to the duties of the Task 
Force; 
(F) a maternal health care provider; 
(G) an elected or duly appointed leader 
from an Indian Tribe; 
(H) an expert in a field or policy area re-
lated to the duties of the Task Force; or 
(I) an individual who has experience with 
Federal or State government programs related 
to the duties of the Task Force. 
(3) APPOINTMENT
TIMING.—Appointments to 
the Task Force shall be made not later than 180 
days after the date of enactment of this Act. 
(4) DURATION.—Each member shall be ap-
pointed for the life of the Task Force. 
(5) CO-CHAIR SELECTION.—Not later than 30 
days after the date on which a majority of the mem-
bers of the Task Force have been appointed, the 
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Secretary shall select 2 of the members of the Task 
Force to serve as co-chairs of the Task Force. 
(6) VACANCIES.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—A vacancy in the Task 
Force— 
(i) shall not affect the powers of the 
Task Force; and 
(ii) shall be filled in the same manner 
as the original appointment. 
(B) CO-CHAIR VACANCY.—In the event of 
a vacancy of a co-chair of the Task Force, a re-
placement co-chair shall be selected in the same 
manner as the original selection. 
(7) COMPENSATION.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (8), members of the Task Force shall 
serve without pay. 
(8) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the Task 
Force shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 
diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for 
employees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 
57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from 
their homes or regular places of business in the per-
formance of service for the Task Force. 
(d) MEETINGS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall meet 
at the call of the co-chairs of the Task Force. 
(2) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 
the Task Force shall constitute a quorum. 
(3) INITIAL MEETING.—The Task Force shall 
meet not later than 60 days after the date on which 
a majority of the members of the Task Force have 
been appointed. 
(e) STAFF OF TASK FORCE.— 
(1) ADDITIONAL STAFF.—The co-chairs of the 
Task Force may appoint and fix the pay of addi-
tional staff to the Task Force as the co-chairs con-
sider appropriate. 
(2) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN CIVIL SERVICE 
LAWS.—The staff of the Task Force may be ap-
pointed without regard to the provisions of title 5, 
United States Code, governing appointments in the 
competitive service, and may be paid without regard 
to the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III 
of chapter 53 of that title relating to classification 
and General Schedule pay rates. 
(3) DETAILEES.—Any Federal Government em-
ployee may be detailed to the Task Force without re-
imbursement from the Task Force, and the detailee 
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shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his 
or her regular employment without interruption. 
(f) POWERS OF TASK FORCE.— 
(1) TESTIMONY
AND
EVIDENCE.—The Task 
Force may take such testimony and receive such evi-
dence as the Task Force considers advisable to carry 
out this section. 
(2) OBTAINING
OFFICIAL
DATA.—The Task 
Force may secure directly from any Federal depart-
ment or agency information necessary to carry out 
its duties under this section. On request of the co- 
chairs of the Task Force, the head of that depart-
ment or agency shall furnish such information to the 
Task Force. 
(3) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Task Force may 
use the United States mails in the same manner and 
under the same conditions as other Federal depart-
ments and agencies. 
(g) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 
on which the initial 18 members of the Task Force are 
appointed under subsection (c)(1), the Task Force shall 
submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the 
Committee on Education and Labor, and the Committee 
on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, 
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Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate, and make 
publicly available, a report that— 
(1) contains the information, evaluations, and 
recommendations described in subsection (b); and 
(2) is signed by more than half of the members 
of the Task Force. 
(h) TERMINATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advi-
sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to 
the Task Force. 
(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) MATERNAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The 
term ‘‘maternal health care provider’’ means an indi-
vidual who is an obstetrician-gynecologist, family 
physician, midwife who meets at a minimum the 
international definition of the midwife and global 
standards for midwifery education as established by 
the International Confederation of Midwives, nurse 
practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist. 
(2) MATERNAL MORTALITY.—The term ‘‘mater-
nal mortality’’ means deaths occurring during, or 
within 12 months after, pregnancy from complica-
tions of pregnancy or childbirth. 
(3) MATERNAL
MORTALITY
REVIEW
COM-
MITTEE.—The term ‘‘maternal mortality review 
committee’’ means a maternal mortality review com-
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mittee duly authorized by a State and receiving 
funding under section 317k(a)(2)(D) of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b–12(a)(2)(D)). 
(4) 
PREGNANCY-ASSOCIATED
DEATH.—The 
term ‘‘pregnancy-associated death’’ means a death of 
a woman, by any cause, that occurs during, or with-
in 1 year following, her pregnancy, regardless of the 
outcome, duration, or site of the pregnancy. 
(5) PREGNANCY-RELATED
DEATH.—The term 
‘‘pregnancy-related death’’ means a death of a 
woman that occurs during, or within 1 year fol-
lowing, her pregnancy, regardless of the outcome, 
duration, or site of the pregnancy— 
(A) from any cause related to, or aggra-
vated by, the pregnancy or its management; 
and 
(B) not from accidental or incidental 
causes. 
(6) SEVERE MATERNAL MORBIDITY.—The term 
‘‘severe maternal morbidity’’ means unexpected out-
comes of labor and delivery resulting in significant 
short-term or long-term consequences to the health 
of a woman. 
(j) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
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necessary to carry out this section for fiscal years 2021 
through 2024. 
SEC. 5. INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE STUDY ON MATERNAL 
MORTALITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Indian Health 
Service (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Director’’) 
shall, in coordination with entities described in subsection 
(b)— 
(1) not later than 90 days after the enactment 
of this Act, enter into a contract with an inde-
pendent research organization or Tribal Epidemi-
ology Center to conduct a comprehensive study on 
maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in 
the populations of American Indian and Alaska Na-
tive women; and 
(2) not later than 3 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a report 
on such study that contains recommendations for 
policies and practices that can be adopted to im-
prove maternal health outcomes for such women. 
(b) PARTICIPATING
ENTITIES.—The entities de-
scribed in this subsection shall consist of 12 members, se-
lected by the Director from among individuals nominated 
by Indian tribes and tribal organizations (as such terms 
are defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 
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and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), and 
urban Indian organizations (as such term is defined in 
section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 
U.S.C. 1603)). In selecting such members, the Director 
shall ensure that each of the 12 service areas of the Indian 
Health Service is represented. 
(c) CONTENTS
OF STUDY.—The study conducted 
pursuant to subsection (a) shall— 
(1) examine the causes of maternal mortality 
and severe maternal morbidity that are unique to 
American Indian and Alaska Native women; 
(2) include a systematic process of listening to 
the stories of American Indian and Alaska Native 
women to fully understand the causes of, and inform 
potential solutions to, the maternal mortality and se-
vere maternal morbidity crisis within their respective 
communities; 
(3) distinguish between the causes of, landscape 
of maternity care at, and recommendations to im-
prove maternal health outcomes within, the different 
settings in which American Indian and Alaska Na-
tive women receive maternity care, such as— 
(A) facilities operated by the Indian 
Health Service; 
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ment, sexual violence, and environmental conditions 
in Tribal areas; 
(7) consider the role that historical mistreat-
ment of American Indian and Alaska Native women 
has played in causing currently high rates of mater-
nal mortality and severe maternal morbidity; 
(8) consider how current funding of the Indian 
Health Service affects the ability of the Service to 
deliver quality maternity care; 
(9) consider the extent to which the delivery of 
maternity care services is culturally appropriate for 
American Indian and Alaska Native women; 
(10) make recommendations to reduce misclas-
sification of American Indian and Alaska Native 
women, including consideration of best practices in 
training for maternal mortality review committee 
members to be able to correctly classify American 
Indian and Alaska Native women; and 
(11) make recommendations informed by the 
stories shared by American Indian and Alaska Na-
tive women in paragraph (2) to improve maternal 
health outcomes for such women. 
(d) REPORT.—The agreement entered into under 
subsection (a) with an independent research organization 
or Tribal Epidemiology Center shall require that the orga-
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nization or center transmit to Congress a report on the 
results of the study conducted pursuant to that agreement 
not later than 36 months after the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2023. 
SEC. 6. GRANTS TO MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS TO 
STUDY MATERNAL MORTALITY, SEVERE MA-
TERNAL MORBIDITY, AND OTHER ADVERSE 
MATERNAL HEALTH OUTCOMES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall establish a program under which 
the Secretary shall award grants to research centers and 
other entities at minority-serving institutions to study spe-
cific aspects of the maternal health crisis among minority 
women. Such research may— 
(1) include the development and implementation 
of systematic processes of listening to the stories of 
minority women to fully understand the causes of, 
and inform potential solutions to, the maternal mor-
tality and severe maternal morbidity crisis within 
their respective communities; and 
(2) assess the potential causes of low rates of 
maternal mortality among Hispanic women, includ-
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ing potential racial misclassification and other data 
collection and reporting issues that might be mis-
representing maternal mortality rates among His-
panic women in the United States. 
(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under subsection (a), an entity described in such sub-
section shall submit to the Secretary an application at 
such time, in such manner, and containing such informa-
tion as the Secretary may require. 
(c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 
use not more than 10 percent of the funds made available 
under subsection (f)— 
(1) to conduct outreach to Minority-Serving In-
stitutions to raise awareness of the availability of 
grants under this subsection (a); 
(2) to provide technical assistance in the appli-
cation process for such a grant; and 
(3) to promote capacity building as needed to 
enable entities described in such subsection to sub-
mit such an application. 
(d) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Each entity award-
ed a grant under this section shall periodically submit to 
the Secretary a report on the status of activities conducted 
using the grant. 
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(e) EVALUATION.—Beginning one year after the date 
on which the first grant is awarded under this section, 
the Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual report 
summarizing the findings of research conducted using 
funds made available under this section. 
(f) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025. 
(g) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS DEFINED.— 
In this section, the term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 371(a) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a)). 
Æ 
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