# The Kira Johnson Act: What This Bill Does

The Kira Johnson Act is designed to tackle a serious problem in American healthcare: pregnant and postpartum women, especially Black women and other women of color, are dying or suffering severe health complications at much higher rates than white women. This bill takes several concrete steps to address racial bias in maternity care and support community programs that help pregnant people stay healthy.

The bill creates a $100 million grant program over five years to fund community organizations that work directly with pregnant and postpartum people in their neighborhoods. These organizations can use the money to offer services like mental health support, help with substance use disorders, education about pregnancy and childbirth, support from doulas and community health workers, and even help starting or expanding midwifery practices. The bill specifically targets funding toward organizations led by and serving communities with the highest rates of maternal death and complications, recognizing that these communities often have the least access to quality care.

The bill also requires healthcare facilities to provide training to all employees who interact with pregnant patients—from doctors and nurses to front desk staff and security—on recognizing and eliminating bias and racism in maternity care. This training needs to happen regularly, not just once, and should include learning about trauma-informed care and shared decision-making between doctors and patients. Additionally, hospitals receiving federal funding must establish "respectful maternity care compliance programs" that allow patients to report instances of racism or bias they experience, require hospitals to respond to these complaints, and mandate public reporting of what happened and what changes were made as a result.

The bill also directs the government to study what actually works in reducing bias in maternity care and requires independent oversight to track whether hospitals are establishing these programs and whether they're actually improving outcomes for women of color. This is a bill focused on accountability and ensuring that the healthcare system treats all pregnant people with respect and provides them with the care they need to survive and thrive.

Kira Johnson Act

Adams, Alma S.

Kira Johnson Act This bill establishes various grants for establishing or expanding programs to advance maternal health equity. Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must award grants for <ul> <li>community-based programs to improve maternal health outcomes for demographic groups with elevated rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, maternal health disparities, and other adverse outcomes;</li> <li>training for health care providers and others who work in maternity care settings on reducing and preventing racism, bias, and discrimination; and</li> <li>programs in hospitals, health systems, and other maternity care settings to establish processes to identify and address instances of racism or evidence of bias in maternity care (i.e., respectful maternity care compliance programs).</li> </ul> HHS must contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study issues related to the training programs, and the Government Accountability Office must study issues related to the respectful maternity care compliance programs.