WELLS Act

This bill would require hospitals in Medicare, starting January 1, 2027, to create a written discharge plan for any pregnant patient showing signs of labor who is sent home before delivery. The plan would have to include a medical reason for the discharge, an assessment of travel distance and time to home, confirmation of reliable transportation, a back-up hospital for delivery, and approval by a qualified medical professional, and it must be explained to the patient in their primary language. The bill would also require rural maternal care training grants to include racial bias training, set performance milestones for grant recipients, and require yearly public reports on the grants. It would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to set up a research effort comparing training models for health workers and to publish an online maternal health data dashboard.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Robin L. Kelly Democrat sponsor
• 30 cosponsors