Grants to minority-serving institutions to study maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, and other adverse maternal health outcomes

(a) In general The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish a program under which the Secretary shall award grants to research centers, health professions schools and programs, and other entities at minority-serving institutions to study specific aspects of the maternal health crisis among pregnant and postpartum individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups. Such research may— (1) include the development and implementation of systematic processes of listening to the stories of pregnant and postpartum individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, and perinatal health workers supporting such individuals, to fully understand the causes of, and inform potential solutions to, the maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity crisis within their respective communities; (2) assess the potential causes of relatively low rates of maternal mortality among Hispanic individuals, including potential racial misclassification and other data collection and reporting issues that might be misrepresenting maternal mortality rates among Hispanic individuals in the United States; (3) assess differences in rates of adverse maternal health outcomes among subgroups identifying as Hispanic, including disparities in access to early prenatal care; and (4) include lactation education to promote racial and ethnic diversity within the workforce of health care professionals with breastfeeding and lactation expertise. (b) Application To be eligible to receive a grant under subsection (a), an entity described in such subsection shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. (c) Technical assistance The Secretary may use not more than 10 percent of the funds made available under subsection (g)— (1) to conduct outreach to minority-serving institutions to raise awareness of the availability of grants under subsection (a); (2) to provide technical assistance in the application process for such a grant; and (3) to promote capacity building as needed to enable entities described in such subsection to submit such an application. (d) Reporting requirement Each entity awarded a grant under this section shall periodically submit to the Secretary a report on the status of activities conducted using the grant. (e) Evaluation Beginning 1 year after the date on which the first grant is awarded under this section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual report summarizing the findings of research conducted using funds made available under this section. (f) Minority-Serving institutions defined In this section, the term minority-serving institution has the meaning given the term in section 371(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a)). (g) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031.