PREEMPT Act

Key Points

• This bill requires HHS to issue guidance to states within 180 days on which preeclampsia screening and early detection tests can be covered under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This would give states a clear roadmap for covering these potentially life-saving tests.
• The guidance must address best practices for improving outcomes for pregnant women with preeclampsia and clarify whether advanced biomarker tests, including FDA-cleared devices and lab-developed tests, can be covered as medical assistance.
• The bill highlights serious health disparities: Black women are at least three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and preeclampsia contributes to up to 15% of all maternal deaths in the U.S. By expanding access to screening through Medicaid, the bill aims to help close this gap.
• HHS must also provide technical assistance to any state that requests help deciding whether a specific preeclampsia test can be covered, with a 30-day response deadline. Importantly, states are not required to ask for this help before covering a test on their own.
• Preeclampsia affects roughly 5 to 8 percent of pregnancies, causes about 15 to 20 percent of all preterm births in the U.S., and costs more than $2 billion per year in direct healthcare expenses and lost productivity.