Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2025

Key Points

• Hospitals would be required to publicly disclose their policies on the minimum age at which they provide life-saving care to premature babies. Some hospitals help babies born as early as 22 weeks, while others refuse treatment before a certain point.
• Obstetricians and other pregnancy care providers would have to explain their hospital's premature birth care policies to every patient at the very first prenatal visit.
• Hospitals that cannot provide life-saving care to extremely premature infants must explain how they would transfer the mother and baby to a facility that can help.
• Hospitals and obstetric providers that fail to meet these disclosure requirements would lose federal Medicaid and CHIP funding, creating a strong financial incentive to comply.
• For hospitals participating in Medicare, the disclosure requirements would take effect starting January 1, 2026. The Medicaid and CHIP funding penalties would kick in 180 days after the bill is signed into law.