[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 164 (Tuesday, September 22, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            MATERNAL HEALTH QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2020

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 21, 2020

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4995, the 
Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act of 2019. I'm proud to have 
advanced this bipartisan bill through my Health Subcommittee and I'm 
pleased to support it on the Floor.
  My thanks to Reps. Engel, Kelly, Bucshon, Torres Small, Latta, Adams, 
and Stivers for introducing the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act 
of 2019, a bipartisan bill to address the maternal health crisis.
  ``The U.S. is the most the dangerous place in the developed world to 
deliver a baby.'' This quote was the conclusion of a major 
investigation by USA Today.
  Each year, 700 American women die and 50,000 women are severely 
injured due to complications related to childbirth. If you're a Black 
woman in the U.S., the risks are greater. Black women are three times 
more likely to die from childbirth than white women in the U.S., a 
startling statistic.
  This is unacceptable and it's preventable. The CDC estimates as much 
as 60 percent of these deaths could be prevented.
  This bill would prevent these deaths by expanding programs that 
improve the practice of maternal care across the country by developing 
and disseminating best practices.
  For example, the bill authorizes and funds the Alliance for 
Innovation on Maternal Health or AIM, which includes provider, public 
health, and consumer groups working at the state level to implement 
evidence-based ``maternal safety bundles.''
  AIM works. States who implement AIM safety bundles have reduced their 
maternal morbidity rate as much as 22 percent. This data-driven 
approach was spearheaded in my Congressional District. Stanford's 
California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative has reduced severe 
health problems from pregnancy-related hemorrhages by 21 percent and 
has contributed to reducing the maternal mortality rate in California 
by 55 percent.
  H.R. 4995 also addresses the maternal mortality crisis in rural 
areas. Rural mothers are 60 percent more likely to die during or after 
having a child than mothers in American cities, and it's even more 
dangerous for rural minority women, including Native American women.
  Fewer than half of rural women live within a 30-minute drive to a 
hospital with perinatal services, and over 10 percent have to drive 100 
miles or more.
  This bill will close those gaps by expanding telehealth grants and 
increasing training opportunities for medical professionals to provide 
care in rural community-based settings. I urge my colleagues to support 
this bill.

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