Sec. 4. Study on preterm births
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The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall enter into appropriate arrangements with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine under which the National Academies shall— not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, convene a committee of experts in maternal health to study premature births in the United States; and upon completion of the study under paragraph (1)— approve by consensus a report on the results of such study; include in such report— an assessment of each of the topics listed in subsection (b); the analysis required by subsection (c); and the raw data used to develop such report; and not later than 24 months after the date of enactment of this Act, transmit such report to— the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives; and the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate.
The topics listed in this subsection are each of the following: The financial costs of premature birth to society, including— an analysis of stays in neonatal intensive care units and the cost of such stays; long-term costs of stays in such units to society and the family involved post-discharge; and health care costs for families post-discharge from such units (such as medications, therapeutic services, co-payments for visits, and specialty equipment). The factors that impact preterm birth rates.
Opportunities for earlier detection of premature birth risk factors, including— opportunities to improve maternal and infant health; and opportunities for public health programs to provide support and resources for parents in-hospital, in non-hospital settings, and post-discharge. The analysis required by this subsection is an analysis of— targeted research strategies to develop effective drugs, treatments, or interventions to bring at-risk pregnancies to term; State and other programs’ best practices with respect to reducing premature birth rates; and precision medicine and preventative care approaches starting early in the life course (including during pregnancy) with a focus on behavioral and biological influences on premature birth, child health, and the trajectory of such approaches into adulthood.