H.R. 7912 — Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2026

This section sets forth findings on variations in hospital practices for resuscitating premature infants, including that some U.S. hospitals forgo intensive care for babies born before 22 weeks gestation while others provide such care to nearly all infants born alive, and that neonatal outcomes are best at centers that consistently intervene with life-saving treatment.

This section requires each hospital to publicly disclose its policy on providing life-saving care to infants born prematurely, including any minimum gestational age for such care, whether decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, and the process for transferring the infant and mother to the nearest facility with a neonatal intensive care unit. It also requires each obstetrician or other practitioner providing obstetric services to disclose the relevant hospital policy to a patient at the first prenatal visit.

This section requires hospitals, beginning January 1, 2026, to satisfy the disclosure requirement under section 3(a) of the Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2026 regarding care for premature births as a condition of their Medicare provider agreement, and to require each practitioner providing obstetric services at the hospital to satisfy the disclosure requirement under section 3(b) of such Act.

This section prohibits federal Medicaid funding for care or services furnished by a hospital or obstetric provider unless the hospital or provider satisfies the disclosure requirements in section 3 of the Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2026. The prohibition applies to the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and takes effect 180 days after the date of enactment.