This legislation aims to increase transparency regarding medical care for premature infants by requiring healthcare providers to disclose their policies. The bill highlights findings that hospitals have varying capacities to resuscitate premature babies, leading to situations where parents expect intervention but do not receive it, and emphasizes that consistent intervention improves neonatal outcomes. The goal is to provide parents with crucial information to ensure medical excellence and informed consent for treatment. Specifically, the bill mandates that hospitals publicly disclose their policies concerning life-saving care for premature births. This includes whether there is a minimum gestational age for providing such care, if decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, and the process for transferring infants and mothers to facilities capable of providing necessary life-saving care if the hospital cannot. Additionally, obstetric practitioners are required to inform patients at their first prenatal visit about the policies of any hospital where they have admitting privileges, covering the same disclosure points. To ensure compliance, the bill amends the Social Security Act to require hospitals to satisfy these disclosure requirements as part of their agreements. Furthermore, it prohibits the use of Federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for hospitals and obstetric providers that fail to meet these new disclosure obligations. These funding prohibitions are set to take effect 180 days after the bill's enactment, reinforcing the importance of provider transparency in neonatal care.
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Timeline
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Health
Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2025
USA119th CongressS-2433| Senate
| Updated: 7/24/2025
This legislation aims to increase transparency regarding medical care for premature infants by requiring healthcare providers to disclose their policies. The bill highlights findings that hospitals have varying capacities to resuscitate premature babies, leading to situations where parents expect intervention but do not receive it, and emphasizes that consistent intervention improves neonatal outcomes. The goal is to provide parents with crucial information to ensure medical excellence and informed consent for treatment. Specifically, the bill mandates that hospitals publicly disclose their policies concerning life-saving care for premature births. This includes whether there is a minimum gestational age for providing such care, if decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, and the process for transferring infants and mothers to facilities capable of providing necessary life-saving care if the hospital cannot. Additionally, obstetric practitioners are required to inform patients at their first prenatal visit about the policies of any hospital where they have admitting privileges, covering the same disclosure points. To ensure compliance, the bill amends the Social Security Act to require hospitals to satisfy these disclosure requirements as part of their agreements. Furthermore, it prohibits the use of Federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for hospitals and obstetric providers that fail to meet these new disclosure obligations. These funding prohibitions are set to take effect 180 days after the bill's enactment, reinforcing the importance of provider transparency in neonatal care.