by Amy Spangler
July 29, 2010

On July 26, 2010, moms and babies got the attention they deserve thanks to Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard of California. Roybal-Allard, along with 25 co-sponsors, filed the Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services for the 21st Century bill (HR 5807) also known as “MOMS for the 21st Century.” A sweeping piece of legislation, MOMS for the 21^st Century aims to promote optimal pregnancy outcomes by making evidence-based maternity care a national priority. Key provisions include:

• Establishing a focal area on optimal maternity care in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health;

• Establishing a federal interagency coordinating committee on the promotion of optimal maternity outcomes;

• Developing and carrying out a national consumer education campaign on optimal maternity care;

• Developing, making publicly available, and keeping up to date a bibliographic database of systematic reviews for care of childbearing women and newborns;

• Identifying maternity care health professional shortage areas;

• Establishing Centers for Excellence on optimal maternity outcomes;
• Directing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test innovative maternity care models;

• Developing common core curricula for maternity care providers;

• Establishing payment for certified nurse-midwife teachers of students in health professions education programs;

• Establishing a loan repayment program for maternity care professionals; and

• Providing grants to increase the diversity of the maternity care workforce.

Many of the provisions were taken from two reports—Evidence-Based Maternity Care: What It Is and What It Can Achieve (2008) and Blueprint for Action: Steps Toward a High-Quality, High-Value Maternity Care System (2010)—issued by Childbirth Connection, a non-profit organization founded in 1918 as Maternity Center Association.

Childbirth Connection partnered with the Reforming States Group and the Milbank Memorial Fund in issuing Evidence-Based Maternity Care. The Blueprint for Action was developed through the Transforming Maternity Care project, a two and one-half year collaborative effort that enabled leaders from across the health care system to identify priority actions for improving the quality of maternity care. Childbirth Connection worked closely with Congresswoman Roybal-Allard’s office on this important legislation—a critical first step toward improving the pregnancy outcomes.