[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5487 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5487

 To improve research and data collection on stillbirths, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 5, 2021

  Ms. Herrera Beutler (for herself, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Castor of 
   Florida, and Mr. Mullin) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve research and data collection on stillbirths, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Stillbirth Health Improvement and 
Education for Autumn Act of 2021'' or the ``SHINE for Autumn Act of 
2021''.

SEC. 2. STILLBIRTH RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION IMPROVEMENTS.

    Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting 
after section 317L-1 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 247b-13a) the following:

``SEC. 317L-2. STILLBIRTH RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION IMPROVEMENTS.

    ``(a) Stillbirth Surveillance and Risk Factor Studies.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may award grants to States 
        for purposes of--
                    ``(A) conducting surveillance and collecting data 
                with respect to stillbirths; and
                    ``(B) collecting and reporting data on stillbirth 
                risk factors, including any quantifiable outcomes with 
                respect to such risk factors.
            ``(2) Authorization of appropriations.--To carry out this 
        subsection, there is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 
        for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
    ``(b) Guidelines and Educational Awareness Materials.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) issue guidelines to State departments of 
                health and State and local vital statistics units on--
                            ``(i) collecting data on stillbirth from 
                        health care providers, and with the consent of 
                        the family involved, including any such data 
                        with respect to the clinical history, 
                        postmortem examination, and placental 
                        pathology; and
                            ``(ii) sharing such data with Federal 
                        agencies determined appropriate by the Director 
                        of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                        Prevention; and
                    ``(B) develop, and make publicly available, 
                educational awareness materials on stillbirths.
            ``(2) Consultation.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall consult with--
                    ``(A) national health care professional 
                associations;
                    ``(B) obstetricians and gynecologists;
                    ``(C) pediatricians;
                    ``(D) maternal-fetal medicine specialists;
                    ``(E) midwives;
                    ``(F) mental health professionals;
                    ``(G) statisticians;
                    ``(H) individuals who have experienced a 
                stillbirth; and
                    ``(I) advocacy organizations representing such 
                individuals.
            ``(3) Authorization of appropriations.--To carry out this 
        subsection, there is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000 
        for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Stillbirth.--The term `stillbirth' means the death or 
        loss of a baby before or during delivery, occurring at or after 
        20 weeks of pregnancy.
            ``(2) Vital statistics unit.--The term `vital statistics 
        unit' means the entity that is responsible for maintaining 
        vital records for a State, or a political subdivision of such 
        State, including official records of live births, deaths, fetal 
        deaths, marriages, divorces, and annulments.''.

SEC. 3. PERINATAL PATHOLOGY FELLOWSHIPS.

    The Public Health Service Act is amended by inserting after section 
1122 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 300c-12) the following:

``SEC. 1123. IMPROVING PERINATAL PATHOLOGY.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish and implement a 
Perinatal Pathology Fellowship Program to--
            ``(1) provide postgraduate training in perinatal autopsy 
        pathology;
            ``(2) conduct research on, and improve data collection with 
        respect to, fetal autopsies; and
            ``(3) address challenges in stillbirth education, research, 
        and data collection.
    ``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $3,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2022 through 2026.''.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

    (a) Report by Surgeon General.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than five years after the date 
        of enactment of this Act, the Surgeon General of the Public 
        Health Service shall publish on a public website of the 
        Department of Health and Human Services a report with 
        educational guidelines on stillbirth and stillbirth risk 
        factors.
            (2) Contents.--Such report shall include, to the extent 
        practicable and appropriate, the guidelines issued and 
        educational awareness materials developed under section 317L-2 
        of the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 2 of this 
        Act.
    (b) Report by Secretary of Health and Human Services.--Not later 
than five years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services shall submit to the Congress a 
comprehensive report on the progress and effectiveness of the Perinatal 
Pathology Fellowship Program established under section 1123 of the 
Public Health Service Act, as added by section 3 of this Act.
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