# Plain Language Summary: Healthy Moms and Babies Act

This bill aims to improve maternal health care for pregnant women and new mothers covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It focuses on making pregnancy and childbirth safer, reducing unnecessary medical procedures, and ensuring better coordination of care for women during pregnancy and the year after giving birth.

The bill requires states to track and report on their cesarean section rates—specifically looking at unnecessary cesarean deliveries among low-risk pregnancies. States must develop quality improvement programs to safely reduce these rates, with special attention to racial and ethnic health disparities. The federal government will also study whether Medicaid payment rates might be encouraging unnecessary cesarean sections compared to vaginal births. This matters because cesarean sections carry higher risks for both mothers and babies when not medically necessary, and Black women experience disproportionately high rates of cesarean delivery.

The bill creates new options for states to offer "maternity health homes"—essentially coordinated care teams that follow a pregnant woman from pregnancy through the first year after birth. These teams would help manage her overall health, connect her with needed services, and coordinate between different doctors and specialists. The bill also encourages states to hire and train doulas and community health workers to support pregnant women, expand telehealth services for maternal care, and address social factors that affect health like housing and food security. Additionally, hospitals receiving Medicare payments must now report their cesarean section rates publicly, making this data available to patients and the public.

Healthy Moms and Babies Act

Carter, Earl L. "Buddy"

Healthy Moms and Babies Act This bill establishes programs and requirements to support maternal health services under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). For example, the bill allows state Medicaid programs to cover services that are provided by maternity health homes (designated providers or health teams that provide pregnancy and postpartum coordinated care services). It also establishes a demonstration program to expand telehealth services for pregnant and postpartum women under Medicaid. The bill also establishes an advisory group on birthing practices for health care professionals, requires a study on Medicaid coverage of doula services, and establishes other requirements relating to the maternal health care workforce. It also requires the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services to develop guidance on ways to address social determinants of health for pregnant and postpartum women and to reduce maternal mortality for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.