Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act

Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends title XI of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to:

• identify and publish a recommended core set of maternal and infant quality measures for women and children in the same manner as it identifies and publishes a core set of child health quality measures;
• publish an initial core set of any such measures applicable to mothers and infants eligible under SSAct titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP);
• develop a standardized format for reporting information based on the initial core set and create procedures to encourage states to use these measures to report voluntarily information regarding the quality of health care for Medicaid and CHIP eligible mothers and infants;
• establish a Maternal and Infant Quality Measurement Program; and
• publish recommended changes to the initial core set of measures that shall reflect the results of the testing, validation, and consensus process for their development.

Any entity awarded a grant or contract by HHS to develop emerging and innovative evidence-based measures under the Maternal and Infant Quality Measurement Program shall work to advance eMeasures aligned with those developed under the Pediatric Quality Measures Program and the Medicaid Quality Measurement Program.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shall adapt the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems program surveys of providers, facilities, and health plans to ensure that the adapted surveys are effective in measuring aspects of care that childbearing women and newborns experience.

States with an approved Medicaid or CHIP plan or waiver shall report annually to HHS regarding state specific maternal and infant quality of care measures applied.

(Sec. 3) HHS may make grants to eligible entities to support:

• the development of new state and regional maternity and infant care quality collaboratives;
• expanded activities of existing collaboratives; and
• maternity and infant care initiatives within established state and regional quality collaboratives that are not focused exclusively on maternity care.

An online, open-access clearinghouse shall be established to make protocols, procedures, reports, tools, and other resources of individual collaboratives available to collaboratives and other entities working to improve maternity and infant care quality.

(Sec. 4) The consensus-based entity regarding performance measurement with which HHS must contract shall facilitate increased coordination and alignment between the public and private sector with respect to quality and efficiency measures.