Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Act

Bill: 108-s-1726
Sponsor: Sen. Alexander, Lamar [R-TN]
Introduced: 2003-10-14 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Agriculture and Food
Birth defects
Child development
Child health
Child nutrition
Communicable diseases
Communication in medicine
Community health services
Conferences
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Department of Health and Human Services
Disabled
Drug abuse
Economic research
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Epidemiology
Evaluation research (Social action programs)
Executive reorganization
Families
Family services
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to research
Fetus
Government Operations and Politics
Governmental investigations
Health counseling
Health education
Health surveys
Higher education
Infant mortality
Infants
Low birth weight
Maternal health services
Medical education
Medical research
Medical screening
Medical technology
Medical tests
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Nutrition
Performance measurement
Planning
Pregnancy
Pregnant women
Preventive medicine
Public health
Quality of care
Quality of life
Reproduction
Research centers
Science, Technology, Communications
Smoking
Social Welfare
Stress (Psychology)
Technology assessment
Women
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2003-10-14
text: 
Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Act or the PREEMIE Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to expand and coordinate research relating to preterm labor and delivery and infant mortality.
 
Establishes within NIH two networks: a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network and a Neonatal Research Unit Network.
 
Requires the Director of the CDC to study and report on the relationship between prematurity, birth defects, and developmental disabilities as well as review the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey.
 
Requires the Director of NIH to contract with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for a study on the health and economic consequences of preterm birth.
 
Directs the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration to assess the current national core performance and outcome measures under the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant with the goal of expanding them to include known risk factors of low birthweight and prematurity such as smoking by pregnant women.
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants for a demonstration project to improve the provision of information on prematurity to health professionals and other health care providers and the public.
 
Funds grants for projects to support the informational and emotional needs of families during the stay of an infant in a neonatal intensive care unit (nicu).
 
Establishes an Interagency Coordinating Council on Prematurity and Low Birthweight.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-10-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2003-10-14
text: Introduced in Senate