NIH IMPROVE Act
Bill: H.R.7565 | Sponsor: Rep. Underwood, Lauren (D-IL)
Policy area: Health

Summary:
NIH Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone Act of 2022 or the NIH IMPROVE Act
This bill provides statutory authority for an initiative of the National Institutes of Health that supports research on improving maternal health outcomes with a particular emphasis on mitigating maternal health disparities.

To continue to fund the IMPROVE Initiative through the Eunice Kennedy 
 Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``NIH Implementing a Maternal health 
and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone Act of 2022'' or the ``NIH 
IMPROVE Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVE INITIATIVE.

    Subpart 7 of part C of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 452H. IMPROVE INITIATIVE.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director of the Institute may continue to 
carry out the IMPROVE initiative (hereafter in this section referred to 
as the `Initiative') through the Institute for the following:
            ``(1) Advancing research to--
                    ``(A) reduce preventable causes of maternal 
                mortality and severe maternal morbidity;
                    ``(B) reduce racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic 
                disparities in maternal health outcomes; and
                    ``(C) improve health for pregnant and postpartum 
                individuals before, during, and after pregnancy.
            ``(2) Using an integrated approach to understand the 
        biological, behavioral, sociocultural, and structural factors 
        that affect maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity by 
        building an evidence base for improved care and outcomes in 
        specific regions of the United States.
            ``(3) Targeting health disparities associated with maternal 
        mortality and severe maternal morbidity by--
                    ``(A) implementing and evaluating community-based 
                interventions for disproportionately affected 
                individuals; and
                    ``(B) identifying risk factors and the underlying 
                biological mechanisms associated with leading causes of 
                maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity in the 
                United States, including cardiovascular disease, 
                infection and immunity, and mental health.
    ``(b) Implementation.--The Director of the Institute may award 
grants or enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, or other 
transactions to carry out subsection (a), including with researchers 
from racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in section 
1707(g)(1)).
    ``(c) Appropriations.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out this section $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 
through 2027.''.
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