[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 628 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 628

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the designation 
         of maternity care health professional shortage areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 3, 2015

 Mr. Kirk (for himself and Ms. Baldwin) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the designation 
         of maternity care health professional shortage areas.

    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 ``Improving Access to Maternity Care 
Act''.

SEC. 2. MATERNITY CARE HEALTH PROFESSIONAL SHORTAGE AREAS.

    Section 332 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(k)(1) The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the 
Health Resources and Services Administration, shall designate maternity 
care health professional shortage areas in the States and at least 
annually thereafter review and, as necessary, revise such designations.
    ``(2) In carrying out paragraph (1), and in applying subsection (b) 
pursuant to paragraph (4), the Secretary shall seek input from relevant 
provider organizations, including medical societies, organizations 
representing medical facilities, and other organizations with expertise 
in maternity care.
    ``(3) In applying subsection (d), pursuant to paragraph (4), the 
Secretary shall collect and publish in the Federal Register data on 
health care professional shortage areas based on professional category 
of maternal health professionals providing full scope maternity health 
care by provider type as well as geographic region. Such data shall be 
presented in a manner to compare availability and need of such 
professionals by such professional category and geographic region.
    ``(4) The provisions of subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), 
(h), (i), and (j) (other than (j)(1)(B)) of this section shall apply to 
the designation of a maternity care health professional shortage area 
under this subsection in a similar manner and extent as such provisions 
apply to the designation of health professional shortage areas under 
subsection (a), except--
            ``(A) in applying subsection (b)(3), the reference in such 
        subsection to `physicians' shall be deemed to be a reference to 
        physicians and other health professionals as providing 
        maternity care eligible for loan repayment under this part who 
        provide full scope maternity care;
            ``(B) in applying subsection (d)--
                    ``(i) the reference in paragraph (2) of such 
                subsection to `July 1 of 1991' shall be deemed to be a 
                reference to `July 1 of 2016'; and
                    ``(ii) the descriptive list required under such 
                paragraph, with respect to a maternity care health 
                professional shortage area designated under paragraph 
                (1), shall include--
                            ``(I) population groups in the area that 
                        would benefit from full scope maternity care 
                        health services; and
                            ``(II) the providers and medical facilities 
                        that provide such services to such groups in 
                        such area; and
            ``(C) in applying such provisions of subsections (b), (c), 
        (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), and (j), a reference to an area, 
        population group, or facility shall be deemed to be a reference 
        to an area or population group described in paragraph (5).
    ``(5) For purposes of this subsection:
            ``(A) The term `maternity care health professional shortage 
        area' means--
                    ``(i) an area in an urban or rural area (which need 
                not conform to the geographic boundaries of a political 
                subdivision and which is a rational area for the 
                delivery of health services) which the Secretary 
                determines has a shortage of providers of full scope 
                maternity care health services;
                    ``(ii) an area in an urban or rural area (which 
                need not conform to the geographic boundaries of a 
                political subdivision and which is a rational area for 
                the delivery of health services) which the Secretary 
                determines has a shortage of hospital or birth center 
                labor and delivery units; or
                    ``(iii) a population group which the Secretary 
                determines has such a shortage of maternal providers or 
                facilities.
            ``(B) The term `full scope maternity care health services' 
        includes during labor care, birthing, prenatal care, and 
        postpartum care.
            ``(C) The term `medical facility' has the meaning given 
        such term in subsection (a)(2) and includes a freestanding 
        birth center, as defined in section 1905(l)(3)(B) of the Social 
        Security Act.''.
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