I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1209 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the designation 
of maternity care health professional shortage areas. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 3, 2015 
Mr. BURGESS (for himself, Mrs. CAPPS, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 
the designation of maternity care health professional 
shortage areas. 
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 ‘‘Improving Access to 
Maternity Care Act’’. 
SEC. 2. MATERNITY CARE HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORT-
AGE AREAS. 
Section 332 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 254e) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
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‘‘(k)(1) The Secretary, acting through the Adminis-
trator of the Health Resources and Services Administra-
tion, shall designate maternity care health professional 
shortage areas in the States and at least annually there-
after review and, as necessary, revise such designations. 
‘‘(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), and in applying 
subsection (b) pursuant to paragraph (4), the Secretary 
shall seek input from relevant provider organizations, in-
cluding medical societies, organizations representing med-
ical facilities, and other organizations with expertise in 
maternity care. 
‘‘(3) In applying subsection (d), pursuant to para-
graph (4), the Secretary shall collect and publish in the 
Federal Register data on health care professional shortage 
areas based on professional category of maternal health 
professionals providing full scope maternity health care by 
provider type as well as geographic region. Such data shall 
be presented in a manner to compare availability and need 
of such professionals by such professional category and ge-
ographic region. 
‘‘(4) The provisions of subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), 
(f), (g), (h), (i), and (j) (other than (j)(1)(B)) of this sec-
tion shall apply to the designation of a maternity care 
health professional shortage area under this subsection in 
a similar manner and extent as such provisions apply to 
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the designation of health professional shortage areas 
under subsection (a), except— 
‘‘(A) in applying subsection (b)(3), the ref-
erence in such subsection to ‘physicians’ shall be 
deemed to be a reference to physicians and other 
health professionals as providing maternity care eli-
gible for loan repayment under this part who provide 
full scope maternity care; 
‘‘(B) in applying subsection (d)— 
‘‘(i) the reference in paragraph (2) of such 
subsection to ‘July 1 of 1991’ shall be deemed 
to be a reference to ‘July 1 of 2016’; and 
‘‘(ii) the descriptive list required under 
such paragraph, with respect to a maternity 
care health professional shortage area des-
ignated under paragraph (1), shall include— 
‘‘(I) population groups in the area 
that would benefit from full scope mater-
nity care health services; and 
‘‘(II) the providers and medical facili-
ties that provide such services to such 
groups in such area; and 
‘‘(C) in applying such provisions of subsections 
(b), (c), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), and (j), a reference to 
an area, population group, or facility shall be 
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‘‘(C) The term ‘medical facility’ has the mean-
ing given such term in subsection (a)(2) and in-
cludes a freestanding birth center, as defined in sec-
tion 1905(l)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act.’’. 
Æ 
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