Perinatal Workforce Act

Key Points

• The bill creates two grant programs totaling $30 million per year from 2027 through 2031 to train more maternal health workers, including midwives, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, doulas, and other perinatal health workers. Schools can use the money to start new programs or expand existing ones.
• Grant recipients must prioritize recruiting students from racial and ethnic minority groups and those who plan to work in areas with health professional shortages or significant racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.
• HHS would issue guidance to states within two years on how hospitals, insurers, and birth centers can recruit diverse maternity care providers and build multidisciplinary care teams that include midwives, lactation consultants, and perinatal health workers.
• The NIH would conduct a study on best practices in culturally and linguistically appropriate maternity care, and the GAO would report every five years on barriers to entering midwifery and other maternal health education programs, especially for low-income women and women of color.
• All grant-funded programs must include training on implicit bias and racism as part of the standard curriculum. Schools must also report annually on student demographics, career placement in shortage areas, and the effectiveness of their bias training.