I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1254 
To improve obstetric emergency care. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2025 
Ms. KELLY of Illinois (for herself, Mrs. KIM, Ms. SCHRIER, and Mr. MEUSER) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To improve obstetric emergency care. 
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 ‘‘Rural Obstetrics Read-
iness Act’’. 
SEC. 2. OBSTETRIC EMERGENCY TRAINING PROGRAM. 
Section 330O of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 254c–21) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
and inserting a semicolon; 
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(B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe-
riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) developing, and facilitating access to, an 
evidence-based program to train practitioners in 
rural health care facilities without dedicated obstet-
ric units to provide emergency obstetric services dur-
ing pregnancy, labor, delivery, or the postpartum pe-
riod, including training on how to prepare for, iden-
tify, stabilize, and safely transfer, as appropriate 
and within the scope of practice of an individual 
practitioner, a woman experiencing labor, delivery, 
obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension, cardiac 
conditions, perinatal mental health conditions, sub-
stance use, sepsis, or other conditions, as appro-
priate.’’; 
(2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 
subsections (d) and (e), respectively; 
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(c) TRAINING PROGRAM
FOR ELIGIBLE PRACTI-
TIONERS IN RURAL HEALTH CARE FACILITIES.—A train-
ing program described in subsection (a)(5) shall include 
an assessment of obstetric training needs for rural health 
care facilities without dedicated obstetric units. In devel-
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oping the training program, a recipient of a grant under 
such subsection shall— 
‘‘(1) work in consultation with at least one rep-
resentative from a national medical society that has 
experience or expertise in rural health care delivery 
in each of the fields of gynecology and obstetrics, 
emergency medicine, family medicine, and anesthesi-
ology; and 
‘‘(2) facilitate access to obstetric readiness 
training via regional training partnerships and tech-
nical assistance to rural health care facilities.’’; and 
(4) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 
adding at the end the following: ‘‘In addition to 
amounts appropriated under the previous sentence, 
for grants for the purpose described in subsection 
(a)(5), there are authorized to be appropriated 
$5,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2026 
through 2028’’. 
SEC. 3. GRANT FUNDING FOR EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES. 
Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by inserting after 
section 330A–2 the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 330A–3. PROGRAM OF SUPPORT FOR OBSTETRIC 
SERVICES. 
‘‘(a) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 
grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to eligible en-
tities to integrate obstetric readiness training curriculum 
into rural health care settings, build workforce capacity, 
and purchase equipment necessary to manage obstetric 
emergencies. 
‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of funds under 
this section shall use such funds for the purpose described 
in subsection (a), which may include any of the following: 
‘‘(1) Purchasing or providing equipment and 
technical assistance to train practitioners who are 
not specialized in obstetrics in preparing for, identi-
fying, stabilizing, and transferring, as appropriate 
and within the scope of practice of the practitioner, 
individuals experiencing obstetric emergencies. 
‘‘(2) Purchasing or providing equipment nec-
essary to prepare for, identify, stabilize, or transfer, 
as appropriate, individuals experiencing obstetric 
emergencies. 
‘‘(3) Developing and carrying out protocols for 
transfer of patients to other facilities and network 
engagement with other facilities. 
‘‘(4) Hiring additional personnel or paying the 
salaries of personnel. 
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‘‘(5) Establishing training opportunities to en-
able non-obstetric health professionals to gain expo-
sure to, and expertise in, the delivery of obstetric 
services, including through clinical rotations, fellow-
ships, or cross-training clinicians in other specialties. 
‘‘(6) Enabling clinical educators to coordinate, 
develop, and implement comprehensive interdiscipli-
nary trainings, including team-based simulation 
training for providers who may need to respond to 
an obstetric emergency. 
‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 
a grant under this section, an entity shall— 
‘‘(1) be— 
‘‘(A) a rural hospital, critical access hos-
pital (as determined under section 1820(c)(2) 
of the Social Security Act), or a rural emer-
gency 
hospital 
(as 
defined 
in 
section 
1861(kkk)(2) of the Social Security Act) that is 
located in a maternity care health professional 
target area or a rural area (as defined by the 
Secretary); or 
‘‘(B) a consortium of 3 entities that in-
cludes at least 2 entities described in subpara-
graph (A); and 
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‘‘(2) agree to carry out the program described 
in subsection (a), in coordination with other feder-
ally funded maternal and child health programs, to 
the extent practicable, and in consultation with other 
maternal and child health programs in the same geo-
graphic area. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘maternity care health profes-
sional target area’ means a primary care health pro-
fessional shortage area that is experiencing a short-
age of maternity health care professionals, as identi-
fied under section 332(k); and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘rural area’ has the meaning 
given such term by the Federal Office of Rural 
Health Policy. 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—To 
carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro-
priated $15,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2026 
through 2029.’’. 
SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM FOR TELECONSULTATION. 
Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.), is amended by inserting after 
section 330A–3, as inserted by section 3, the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 330A–4. PILOT PROGRAM FOR TELECONSULTATION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
Administration and in consultation with the Administrator 
of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, shall 
award grants or cooperative agreements to States, political 
subdivisions of States, and Indian Tribes and Tribal orga-
nizations (as such terms are defined in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act) 
to support the provision of urgent maternal health care 
in rural facilities without a dedicated obstetric unit, in-
cluding by— 
‘‘(1) supporting the development of statewide or 
regional maternal health care telehealth access pro-
grams; and 
‘‘(2) supporting the improvement of existing 
statewide or regional maternal health care telehealth 
access programs described in subsection (b). 
‘‘(b) STATEWIDE OR REGIONAL MATERNAL HEALTH 
CARE TELEHEALTH ACCESS PROGRAMS.—A maternal 
health care telehealth access program described in this 
section, with respect to which an award under subsection 
(a) may be used, shall— 
‘‘(1) be a statewide or regional network of ma-
ternal health care teams that provide urgent support 
to rural non-obstetric settings of care; 
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‘‘(2) support and further develop organized 
State or regional networks of maternal health care 
teams to provide urgent consultative support to 
rural non-obstetric settings of care; 
‘‘(3) conduct an assessment of urgent maternal 
health consultation needs among providers in rural 
non-obstetric settings of care; 
‘‘(4) provide assurances that the physicians re-
sponsive to the teleconsultation line are credentialed 
within their employing facility and can provide con-
sultation where the patient is receiving care con-
sistent with State requirements to provide care to in-
dividuals experiencing labor, delivery, obstetric hem-
orrhage, severe hypertension in pregnancy and 
postpartum, cardiac conditions related to or exacer-
bated by pregnancy, perinatal mental health condi-
tions, substance use during pregnancy or the 
postpartum period, sepsis during pregnancy or after 
pregnancy end, or other conditions, as appropriate; 
‘‘(5) provide rapid statewide or regional clinical 
telephone or telehealth consultations when requested 
between the maternal care teams and providers in 
rural emergency non-obstetric settings; and 
‘‘(6) provide information to health care pro-
viders about available maternal health services for 
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