IMPACT to Save Moms Act

Key Points

• This bill creates a five-year demonstration project (fiscal years 2027-2031) allowing states to test new payment models for maternity care under Medicaid and CHIP. The goal is to find approaches that lead to better health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum individuals.
• The bill explicitly targets communities facing the worst maternal health outcomes. It requires coordination with organizations representing patients from groups with high rates of maternal deaths, severe complications, and other poor birth outcomes.
• States would be encouraged to build diverse maternity care teams that include mental health providers, dietitians, and perinatal health workers. Team members should come from diverse backgrounds or have training on implicit bias and racism.
• The program considers factors beyond clinical care, including social determinants of health, maternal mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and non-hospital birth settings like freestanding birth centers.
• After the project ends, HHS must submit a public report to Congress with results broken down by race, ethnicity, language, income, geography, and insurance type, plus a recommendation on whether the program should continue and expand nationwide.