# 119-hr-6238: NIH IMPROVE Act

119-hr-6238, NIH IMPROVE Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Underwood, Lauren [D-IL-14] (D-IL); status passed_house; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6238
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-6238
- Congress: 119
- Title: NIH IMPROVE Act
- Status: passed_house
- Introduced: 2025-11-20
- Sponsor: Rep. Underwood, Lauren [D-IL-14] (D-IL)
- Cosponsors: 4
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Improve maternal health outcomes**. This bill would create the NIH IMPROVE Initiative to fund research, community interventions, and multi-factor studies to prevent maternal deaths, reduce severe maternal morbidity, and target racial and regional disparities. - Pregnant and postpartum women: Receive research-backed prevention and care strategies aimed at lowering deaths and severe complications. - Disproportionately affected communities: Get community-based programs and evaluations focused on local causes of high maternal mortality. - Researchers and health systems: NIH may award grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to study biological, behavioral, and regional drivers and to test interventions. *Would authorize $63.4 million per year from 2026 through 2030, thereby increasing federal spending over that period.*

## Cosponsors (4)

- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA), 2025-11-20T00:00:00.000Z
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC), 2026-04-15T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. McClain Delaney, April [D-MD-6] (D-MD), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Vindman, Eugene Simon [D-VA-7] (D-VA), 2026-05-19T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- NIH funding for maternal health research: benefit, medium. If enacted, NIH would set up the IMPROVE Initiative to cut preventable maternal deaths and severe complications. It would target pregnant and postpartum women and communities with the highest risk. NIH would fund research and community projects through grants, contracts, and partnerships. The bill…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-20: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2086: Rights for the TSA Workforce Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-6238 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6238)

## Related
- [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-20: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-20)
- [119-hr-2086: Rights for the TSA Workforce Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2086)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6238 (as of 2026-09-21).