The Secretary may continue and improve activities related to a national maternal mortality data collection and surveillance program to identify and support the review of pregnancy-associated deaths and pregnancy-related deaths that occur during, or within 1 year following, pregnancy, including improving disaggregation of data (in a manner consistent with applicable State and Federal privacy laws).

The Secretary may expand the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System to provide surveillance and collect data in each State.

The Secretary may expand the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program to provide technical support, financial assistance, or the time-limited assignment of senior epidemiologists to maternal and child health programs in each State.

The Secretary may, in cooperation with States, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations, develop a program to support States, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations in establishing or operating maternal mortality review committees, in accordance with subsection (d).

prepregnancy counseling, especially for at risk populations such as women with diabetes and women with substance use disorder;

the identification of critical components of prenatal delivery and postpartum care;

the identification of outreach and support services, such as folic acid education, that are available for pregnant women;

the identification of women who are at high risk for complications;

preventing preterm delivery;

preventing urinary tract infections;

preventing unnecessary caesarean sections;

the identification of the determinants of disparities in maternal care, health risks, and health outcomes, including an examination of the higher rates of maternal mortality among African American women and other groups of women with disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality;

activities to reduce disparities in maternity services and outcomes;

an examination of the relationship between interpersonal violence and maternal complications and mortality;

preventing and reducing adverse health consequences that may result from smoking and substance abuse and misuse before, during and after pregnancy;

preventing infections that cause maternal and infant complications;

an examination of the relationship between maternal health and obstetric services in rural areas and outcomes in delivery and postpartum care; and

other areas determined appropriate by the Secretary.

include multidisciplinary and diverse membership that represents a variety of clinical specialties, State, tribal, or local public health officials, epidemiologists, statisticians, community organizations, geographic regions within the area covered by such committee, and individuals or organizations that represent the populations in the area covered by such committee that are most affected by pregnancy-related deaths or pregnancy-associated deaths and lack of access to maternal health care services; and

demonstrate to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that such maternal mortality review committee’s methods and processes for data collection and review, as required under paragraph (3), use best practices to reliably determine and include all pregnancy-associated deaths and pregnancy-related deaths, regardless of the outcome of the pregnancy.

provides for voluntary and confidential case reporting of pregnancy-associated deaths and pregnancy-related deaths to the appropriate State or tribal health agency by family members of the deceased, and other appropriate individuals, for purposes of review by the applicable maternal mortality review committee; and

through the maternal mortality review committee, review data and information to identify adverse outcomes that may contribute to pregnancy-associated death and pregnancy-related death, and to identify trends, patterns, and disparities in such adverse outcomes to allow the State, Indian tribe, or tribal organization to make recommendations to individuals and entities described in paragraph (2)(A), as appropriate, to improve maternal care and reduce pregnancy-associated death and pregnancy-related death;

identify training available to the individuals and entities described in paragraph (2)(A) for accurate identification and reporting of pregnancy-associated and pregnancy-related deaths;

ensure that, to the extent practicable, the data collected and reported under this paragraph is in a format that allows for analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and

publicly identify the methods used to identify pregnancy-associated deaths and pregnancy-related deaths in accordance with this section.

there is no disclosure by the maternal mortality review committee, including any individual members of the committee, to any person, including any government official, of any identifying information about any specific maternal mortality case; and

no information from committee proceedings, including deliberation or records, is made public unless specifically authorized under State and Federal law.

data, findings, and any recommendations of such committee; and

as applicable, information on the implementation during such year of any recommendations submitted by the committee in a previous year.

from any cause related to, or aggravated by, the pregnancy or its management; and

not from accidental or incidental causes.