On June 24, the Senate Finance Committee passed, by voice vote, the Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act (S. 466).
Sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the legislation would direct the secretary of Health and Human Services, as part of the pediatric quality measures program and the Medicaid Quality Measurement Program, to review quality measures that relate to the care of childbearing women and newborns; develop and publish a set of maternity care quality measures for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; and review and update the Mother-Infant Care Program (MIC) quality measures on an ongoing basis.
Among other provisions, the measure would direct the secretary to enter into grants, contracts, or intergovernmental agreements with qualified entities to identify quality of care issues that are not addressed adequately by MIC standards. The legislation would authorize the secretary to make grants to develop new state and regional maternity care quality, expand activities of existing maternity care, and support maternity care initiatives.
