Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Neonatal Care Transparency Act requires every hospital to publish its policy on life-saving care for an infant born prematurely. The disclosure must state whether the hospital uses a minimum gestational age, whether treatment decisions are case by case, and how the hospital would transfer the infant and mother to the nearest neonatal intensive care unit willing and able to provide life-saving care.
At a patient's first prenatal visit, each obstetrician or other practitioner providing obstetric services must disclose the premature-birth policy of every hospital where the practitioner has admitting privileges. The practitioner must also explain the transfer process when the current facility lacks the capacity to provide the care.
The bill enforces hospital disclosure through Medicare provider agreements. Beginning on or after January 1, 2026, a participating hospital must make its own disclosure and require each obstetric practitioner at the hospital to make the practitioner disclosure. Because the stated date is fixed rather than tied to enactment, it may already have passed when the bill becomes law, creating immediate or retroactive-looking compliance language.
Beginning 180 days after enactment, the federal government may not provide Medicaid matching funds for amounts spent on care or services furnished by a hospital or obstetric provider that does not satisfy the disclosure rules. The bill applies that restriction to CHIP as well. The text does not require a hospital to provide intensive care at a particular gestational age, define "life-saving care," compel a receiving NICU to accept transfer, fund transfer capacity, or create a private damages action.
Who Benefits and How
Pregnant patients and families gain earlier information about resuscitation thresholds, individualized decisionmaking, and transfer options. Premature infants may benefit when informed families choose a facility that routinely intervenes. NICUs offering intensive care may receive more referrals, and policymakers gain standardized public information.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Hospitals must publish and maintain policies, coordinate transfers, and police practitioner disclosure. Obstetric practitioners must give institution-specific information at the first visit. CMS and state Medicaid and CHIP agencies must enforce funding conditions. Noncompliant providers risk Medicare participation consequences and loss of federal Medicaid or CHIP payment, which can also affect patients served by those providers.
Key Provisions
- Requires public hospital disclosure of premature-birth care policy.
- Requires disclosure of minimum gestational-age rules.
- Requires disclosure of case-by-case decisionmaking.
- Requires disclosure of maternal and infant transfer processes.
- Requires practitioner disclosure at the first prenatal visit.
- Covers every hospital where the practitioner has privileges.
- Adds disclosure to Medicare hospital agreements.
- Requires hospitals to enforce practitioner disclosure.
- Uses a fixed January 1, 2026 Medicare date.
- Denies Medicaid funding for noncompliant care.
- Extends the funding restriction to CHIP.
- Delays Medicaid and CHIP enforcement for 180 days.
- Creates no minimum treatment standard.
- Defines no mandatory resuscitation threshold.
- Provides no transfer-capacity funding.
- Creates no private damages remedy.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires hospitals and obstetric practitioners to disclose policies for life-saving care and transfer in extremely premature births, makes hospital and practitioner disclosure a Medicare participation condition beginning on a fixed January 1, 2026 date, and denies federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for noncompliant care after 180 days.
Key Policy Areas
Neonatal Intensive Care, Obstetric Disclosure, Premature Birth, Medicare Hospital Participation, Medicaid and CHIP Funding
Primary Purpose
Requires hospitals and obstetric practitioners to disclose policies for life-saving care and transfer in extremely premature births, makes hospital and practitioner disclosure a Medicare participation condition beginning on a fixed January 1, 2026 date, and denies federal Medicaid and CHIP funding for noncompliant care after 180 days.
Policy Domains
Sections 2 through 5 findings, hospital and first-prenatal-visit disclosures, Medicare participation enforcement, Medicaid and CHIP funding restrictions, and effective dates
Identified Gains
- Pregnant patients considering delivery hospitals
- Parents of extremely premature infants
- Premature infants needing intensive care
- Neonatal intensive care units accepting transfers
- Patient advocates comparing hospital policies
- Researchers studying neonatal treatment policies
Identified Costs
- Hospitals publishing premature-birth policies
- Obstetric practitioners making first-visit disclosures
- Hospital compliance officers
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- State Medicaid agencies
- State CHIP agencies
- Noncompliant hospitals losing federal funds
- Patients served by noncompliant providers
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in …
Introduced in House
Mr. Mackenzie introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
CHIP beneficiaries seeking neonatal information, Compliant hospitals serving Medicaid patients, Facilities lacking neonatal intensive care
Positive-direction: CHIP beneficiaries seeking neonatal information, Compliant hospitals serving Medicaid patients, Medicaid beneficiaries seeking neonatal information, Medicare patients seeking neonatal information, Neonatal intensive care units accepting transfers, Parents of extremely premature infants, Patient advocates comparing hospital policies, Pregnant patients considering delivery hospitals, Premature infants needing intensive care
Negative-direction: Facilities lacking neonatal intensive care, Hospital compliance officers, Hospital transfer coordinators, Hospitals facing fixed-date implementation, Hospitals publishing premature-birth policies, Medicare-participating hospitals, Noncompliant hospitals losing federal funds, Noncompliant obstetric providers, Obstetric practitioners at participating hospitals, Obstetric practitioners making first-visit disclosures, Patients served by noncompliant providers
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Medicare contractors reviewing agreements
State CHIP agencies, State Medicaid agencies
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "infant"
- → Premature infant potentially receiving life-saving care
- "patient"
- → Pregnant patient receiving the disclosure
- "hospital"
- → Hospital publishing premature-birth treatment and transfer policy
- "practitioner"
- → Obstetric professional disclosing admitting-hospital policies
- "administrator"
- → Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP official enforcing compliance
- "receiving_facility"
- → NICU capable of providing the requested care
Note: {'scope_ids': ['premature_birth_policy_disclosure_and_funding_conditions'], 'description': 'The bill mandates transparency rather than a treatment outcome, leaves life-saving care and receiving-facility acceptance undefined, uses an enactment-independent Medicare date, and enforces noncompliance through institution-level participation and federal funding consequences that can reach patient services.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A hospital's disclosed rule on gestational thresholds, case-specific decisions, and transfer when it cannot provide the care.
The denial of federal payment for covered care furnished by a hospital or obstetric provider that fails the disclosure requirements.
The admitting-hospital policy information an obstetric provider must give at the patient's first prenatal visit.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology