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Healthy Moms and Babies Act takes steps to reduce mother and infant mortality
October 11, 2022 - WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has introduced the Healthy Moms and Babies Act to improve maternal and child health care. The United States has a maternal health crisis that particularly affects women of color and those living in rural America. The Healthy Moms and Babies Act builds on Grassley’s longstanding efforts to improve maternal and child health by delivering high-quality coordinated care, supporting women and babies with 21st century technology and taking other steps to reduce maternal mortality.
“We must do a better job at supporting pregnant moms and their babies,” Grassley said. “The Healthy Moms and Babies Act will enable high-quality coordinated care to our most vulnerable moms. Through 21st century technology and community-based efforts, we can prevent maternal mortality and high-risk pregnancies – regardless of a mom’s zip code or economic background. As a strong supporter of the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program and stillbirth prevention efforts, I’ll continue working with my colleagues to help expectant families.”
“Rural America is one of the most challenging environments for providing prenatal and OB care because people are so isolated. We’re grateful to Senator Grassley for introducing a bill that will help address these challenges. Avera has shown a long-standing commitment to serving women with a goal of healthy moms, healthy babies and healthy families. Just one example is our use of telehealth to monitor gestational diabetes in rural locations. We fully recognize that moms need access to high quality prenatal care and careful management of conditions such as high blood pressure and gestational diabetes, regardless of their zip code. Telehealth and coordinated, holistic care are important tools as we strive to help moms who cannot always afford to travel or take time off work for regular checkups,” said Kimberlee McKay, MD, Clinical Vice President of Avera’s OB-GYN Service Line. Avera, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is a health system that covers a mostly rural footprint across 72,000 square miles in the Upper Midwest, with hospitals and clinics throughout northwest Iowa.
“The Healthy Moms and Babies Act will make great strides to expand telehealth access for expecting and postpartum women all across the country. The maternal mortality rate is a concerning issue in this country, and the R Street Institute supports Senator Grassley’s innovative effort utilizing telehealth to address it,” said Anthony Lamorena, Senior Federal Affairs Manager at R Street Institute.
Background on Healthy Moms and Babies Act
The Healthy Moms and Babies Act will improve maternal and child health care by:
- Coordinating and providing “whole-person” care, supporting outcome-focused and community-based prevention and support efforts, including stillbirth prevention activities and expanding the maternal health workforce;
- Modernizing maternal health care through telehealth to support women of color and women living in rural America; and
- Reducing maternal mortality and high-risk pregnancies and improving our understanding of social determinants of health in pregnant and postpartum women.
Additional information on Grassley’s Healthy Moms and Babies Act is available below:
Grassley’s Ongoing Work to Improve Maternal and Child Health
Grassley has previously led legislation to reauthorize the bipartisan Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) and is working to ensure another timely reauthorization this year.
Grassley is a cosponsor of the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act to prevent stillbirths. He is also a cosponsor of the Midwives for Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services Act to expand the maternity care workforce. He also helped introduce a National Stillbirth Prevention Day resolution to recognize American families that have endured a stillbirth and to seize the opportunity to keep other families from experiencing the same tragedy.
As Finance Committee chairman, Grassley previously joined Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to gather committee member and stakeholder feedback on factors contributing to poor maternal health outcomes in the U.S.
In 2019, Iowa received a five-year HRSA grant to strengthen partnerships and collaboration. This has resulted in the development of a maternal health task force, improving state-level data surveillance on maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity and promoting and executing innovation in maternal health service delivery. The work in Iowa and across other states will help inform best practices. The Healthy Moms and Babies Act would build on the successes of this HRSA grant and other Iowa efforts.
Source: Senator Chuck Grassley
