H.R. 1254 — Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act

This section establishes the short title as the “Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act.”

This section expands the obstetric emergency training program under section 330O of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254c–21) by adding a new grant purpose to develop and facilitate access to an evidence-based program to train practitioners in rural health care facilities without dedicated obstetric units to provide emergency obstetric services during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the postpartum period. The training must cover how to prepare for, identify, stabilize, and safely transfer, as appropriate and within the scope of practice of the practitioner, women experiencing labor, delivery, obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension, cardiac conditions, perinatal mental health conditions, substance use, sepsis, and other conditions. This section also requires the training program to include an assessment of obstetric training needs for rural facilities without dedicated obstetric units and, in developing the program, to consult with at least one representative from a national medical society with experience or expertise in rural health care delivery in each of the fields of gynecology and obstetrics, emergency medicine, family medicine, and anesthesiology. It further directs grant recipients to facilitate access to obstetric readiness training through regional training partnerships and technical assistance to rural health care facilities. This section authorizes to be appropriated $5,000,000 for FY2026 through FY2028 for grants for the new training purpose.

This section establishes the Program of Support for Obstetric Services within Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act and authorizes $15 million for FY2026 through FY2029. As background, the program would provide grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to eligible rural hospitals, critical access hospitals, rural emergency hospitals, or consortia of 3 such entities, at least 2 of which meet those facility criteria, to integrate obstetric readiness training into rural health care settings, build workforce capacity, and purchase equipment needed to manage obstetric emergencies. The section specifies that funds may be used for equipment and technical assistance for non-obstetric practitioners, transfer protocols and network coordination, hiring or paying personnel, clinical rotations and cross-training, and interdisciplinary simulation training. It limits eligibility to entities located in a maternity care health professional target area or a rural area, and requires coordination with other federally funded maternal and child health programs to the extent practicable.

This section establishes a pilot program for teleconsultation under the Public Health Service Act by directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and in consultation with the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to award grants or cooperative agreements to States, political subdivisions of States, Indian Tribes, and Tribal organizations to support urgent maternal health care in rural facilities without a dedicated obstetric unit. As background, the program is intended to help rural non-obstetric settings obtain rapid maternal health expertise when patients experience labor, obstetric hemorrhage, severe hypertension in pregnancy and postpartum, cardiac conditions related to or exacerbated by pregnancy, perinatal mental health conditions, substance use during pregnancy or the postpartum period, sepsis during pregnancy or after pregnancy end, or other conditions, as appropriate. The section requires funded programs to be statewide or regional maternal health care telehealth access networks that: (1) support and further develop organized maternal health care teams; (2) assess urgent maternal health consultation needs among rural providers; (3) ensure physicians on the teleconsultation line are credentialed within their employing facility and can provide consultation where the patient is receiving care consistent with State requirements; (4) provide rapid statewide or regional clinical telephone or telehealth consultations; and (5) provide information on available maternal health services and referrals to specialty care and community or behavioral health resources. It also requires award recipients to submit a report to the Secretary not later than 18 months after initial receipt of the grant, in such manner and containing such information as the Secretary may require. The section authorizes $5 million to be appropriated for FY2026 through FY2029.

This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on obstetric units in rural areas that maps maternity ward closures, identifies regional patterns of patient transport, and examines models for regional partnerships for rural obstetric care, and to submit a report on the study’s results to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and Education and Workforce not later than 3 years after the date of enactment.