I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6318 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure a national, coordinated 
approach to improving maternal and infant health. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 
Mrs. CAPPS (for herself, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, and Mr. MURPHY of Con-
necticut) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure a na-
tional, coordinated approach to improving maternal and 
infant health. 
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 ‘‘Maternity Care Im-
provement Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
TITLE I—ENHANCED REPORTING, RESEARCH, AND EVALUATION 
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Sec. 101. National registry of maternal and infant health data. 
TITLE II—STRENGTHENING THE MATERNITY CARE WORKFORCE 
Sec. 201. Maternal and infant health workforce education and training. 
Sec. 202. Report on creation of a uniform maternity care core curriculum. 
Sec. 203. Demonstration projects to promote use of core curriculum and inter-
disciplinary team teaching in maternity care health professions 
education. 
Sec. 204. Report on maternity care workforce. 
Sec. 205. Allocation of funds for maternity care workforce development. 
TITLE III—ADDRESSING MATERNAL HEALTH DISPARITIES 
Sec. 301. CDC Centers for Research and Demonstration of Health Promotion 
and Disease Prevention. 
Sec. 302. Grants to support a diversified maternity care workforce. 
TITLE IV—COORDINATION OF MATERNITY CARE 
Sec. 401. Maternal health coordinator. 
TITLE 
I—ENHANCED 
REPORT-
ING, RESEARCH, AND EVAL-
UATION 
SEC. 101. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF MATERNAL AND INFANT 
HEALTH DATA. 
Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended 
by inserting after section 317L of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
247b–13) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 317L–1. IMPROVEMENT OF MATERNAL AND INFANT 
HEALTH THROUGH ENHANCED REPORTING, 
RESEARCH, AND EVALUATION. 
‘‘(a) NATIONAL REGISTRY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish and maintain a national registry of maternal 
and infant health information (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘Registry’). 
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‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The Registry shall include 
information on maternal and infant health, including 
any such information submitted to the Secretary 
through the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring 
System. The Secretary shall disaggregate informa-
tion in the Registry by race and ethnicity. 
‘‘(3) STANDARDIZATION.—In carrying out this 
subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that informa-
tion is collected and maintained pursuant to stand-
ardized measures of maternal health, including a 
standardized definition of maternal death. 
‘‘(b) REPORTING
AND COLLECTION
OF INFORMA-
TION.—The Secretary shall expand, enhance, and ensure 
the coordination of programs of the Department of Health 
and Human Services relating to the reporting and collec-
tion of information on maternal and infant health. Activi-
ties under this subsection may include— 
‘‘(1) expansion of the Pregnancy Risk Assess-
ment Monitoring System to include standardized re-
porting, including core questions and any additional 
State-added information reporting by all States; 
‘‘(2) expansion of programs to assist and en-
courage vital registration systems in each State to 
use enhanced, standardized electronic birth certifi-
cates; and 
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‘‘(3) disaggregation of information by race and 
ethnicity. 
‘‘(c) ELECTRONIC BIRTH AND DEATH SYSTEMS.— 
The Secretary shall award grants to vital records jurisdic-
tions for the development and implementation of electronic 
birth and death systems— 
‘‘(1) to collect 2003 standard certificate data; 
and 
‘‘(2) for the training of individuals responsible 
for completing birth and death certificates. 
‘‘(d) ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMS THAT MITIGATE MA-
TERNAL MORBIDITY
AND MORTALITY.—The Secretary 
shall enter into an agreement with the Institute of Medi-
cine of the National Academies under which the Institute 
will— 
‘‘(1) conduct an in-depth analysis, including 
funding histories, of Federal, State, and local pro-
grams (both governmental and private) across the 
Nation that mitigate maternal mortality and mor-
bidity; and 
‘‘(2) not later than 12 months after the date of 
the enactment of this section, submit a report to the 
Secretary and the Congress on the results of such 
analysis. 
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‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—To 
carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro-
priated such sums as may be necessary.’’. 
TITLE II—STRENGTHENING THE 
MATERNITY CARE WORKFORCE 
SEC. 201. MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH WORKFORCE 
EDUCATION AND TRAINING. 
(a) HEALTH PROFESSIONALS.—Part D of title VII 
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 760. EDUCATION AND TRAINING RELATING TO MA-
TERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH. 
‘‘The Secretary shall, with respect to maternal and 
infant health education and training, carry out services 
and programs equivalent (as determined by the Secretary) 
to the services and programs under section 753 with re-
spect to maternal and infant health education and train-
ing.’’. 
(b) NURSING.—Title VIII of the Public Health Serv-
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 296 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
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the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con-
taining such information as the Secretary may reasonably 
require. 
‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ includes a school of nursing, 
a health care facility, a program leading to certification 
as a certified nurse assistant, a partnership of such a 
school and facility, a partnership of such a program and 
facility, or a nonprofit entity that issues continuing nurs-
ing education.’’. 
SEC. 202. REPORT ON CREATION OF A UNIFORM MATER-
NITY CARE CORE CURRICULUM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall seek to enter into an arrangement 
with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies 
to prepare a report on the creation of a uniform maternity 
care core curriculum to foster a shared knowledge base 
among maternity care professionals. At a minimum, the 
report shall address ways in which such core curriculum 
can support— 
(1) preventing and treating complications in 
pregnancy and childbirth; 
(2) physiologic pregnancy, birth, and early par-
enting; 
(3) psychosocial aspects of pregnancy and birth; 
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(4) woman- and family-centered care; 
(5) cultural competence; 
(6) collaborative practice; 
(7) shared decisionmaking between childbearing 
women and clinicians; 
(8) avoiding overuse of maternity interventions 
in low-risk women and newborns; 
(9) improved systemic approaches to maternity 
care; and 
(10) eliminating disparities in maternal care 
and maternal outcomes. 
(b) CONSULTATION.—The arrangement under sub-
section (a) shall require the Institute of Medicine, in pre-
paring the report, to consult with consumer and advocacy 
representatives and with each of the following organiza-
tions and their associated educational, accrediting, and 
certification bodies: 
(1) The American College of Obstetricians and 
Gynecologists. 
(2) The American Academy of Family Physi-
cians. 
(3) The American College of Nurse-Midwives. 
(4) The National Association of Certified Pro-
fessional Midwives. 
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(5) The Association of Women’s Health, Ob-
stetric, and Neonatal Nurses. 
(6) The Accreditation Council for Graduate 
Medical Education. 
(7) The American Academy of Pediatrics. 
(8) The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. 
(c) SUBMISSION
OF REPORT.—The arrangement 
under subsection (a) shall provide for completion of the 
report and the submission of the report to the Congress 
within 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
SEC. 203. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO PROMOTE USE 
OF CORE CURRICULUM AND INTERDISCIPLI-
NARY TEAM TEACHING IN MATERNITY CARE 
HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than the 
deadline specified in section 202(c) for completion and 
submission of the report under section 202, the Secretary 
shall, on a competitive basis and pursuant to a peer review 
process, make available grants to eligible entities or con-
sortia to carry out demonstration projects in academic 
educational programs to develop, implement, and evalu-
ate— 
(1) a uniform core maternity care curriculum 
recommended in the report under section 202; and 
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(2) interdisciplinary team teaching and learning 
in maternity care education. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an entity or consortium shall be or in-
clude— 
(1) a health professions school; 
(2) an academic health sciences center; or 
(3) another type of institution specified by the 
Secretary. 
(c) APPLICATION.—To seek a grant under subsection 
(a) for a demonstration project, an entity or consortium 
shall submit to the Secretary an application that in-
cludes— 
(1) a plan for developing and implementing the 
demonstration project, including by— 
(A) developing collaborative programs in 
all maternity care program settings to allow 
students of all relevant disciplines to observe 
different practice styles, collaborate, and learn 
together from faculty including a full range of 
maternity care providers; 
(B) offering a mix of teaching modalities 
including cognitive, hands-on, and simulation 
training; 
(C) using— 
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(i) acute hospital settings; and 
(ii) community health centers, public 
health department clinics, freestanding 
birth clinics, or other sites determined ap-
propriate by the Secretary; and 
(D) using an interdisciplinary teaching 
team approach involving multiple disciplines, 
which approach may include teaching by an ob-
stetrician, family physician, a nurse-midwife, a 
nurse, a doula, a mental health professional, 
and other providers specified by the Secretary; 
(2) an agreement to provide for the collection of 
data regarding the effectiveness of the demonstra-
tion project; and 
(3) an agreement to provide matching funds in 
accordance with subsection (d). 
(d) MATCHING FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award a 
grant to an entity or consortium under this section 
only if the entity or consortium agrees to make 
available non-Federal contributions toward the costs 
of the demonstration program to be funded under 
the grant in an amount that is not less than $1 for 
each $5 of Federal funds provided through the 
grant. 
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