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S4482119th CongressWALLET

WELLS Act

Sponsored By: Senator Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE]

Introduced

Summary

Requires hospitals to create written discharge plans for pregnant people sent home before delivery. This bill would make patient-centered discharge planning a Medicare participation requirement for hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals starting January 1, 2027.

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  • Pregnant individuals and families: Each person would get a discharge plan in their medical record and a pre-discharge discussion in their primary language, with confirmation they understand the plan. The plan must include a clinical reason for discharge and a named backup facility for labor and delivery.
  • Hospitals and rural providers: Medicare-participating hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals would need to develop and keep these plans for any admitted pregnant person expected to be discharged before delivery. Plans must assess travel distance and verify reliable transportation.
  • Clinical staff: A registered nurse, social worker, or other qualified personnel must review and approve the plan before discharge and ensure required information was provided to the patient.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

New hospital discharge plans for pregnant people

If enacted, hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals that participate in Medicare would need to create a discharge plan for any admitted person who is pregnant, showing signs of labor, and expected to go home before delivery. This requirement would start January 1, 2027. The plan would go into the medical record and be discussed with the patient or their representative before discharge. Plans would have to explain the clinical reason for discharge, estimate travel distance and time from the patient’s home, verify reliable transportation, name a back-up hospital for delivery, show review by a nurse or social worker, and be given in the patient’s main language with a confirmation the patient understood. This would not limit other hospital discharge rules or the duty to provide emergency care under EMTALA.

Maternal health research and public dashboard

If enacted, the Department of Health and Human Services would set up a multi-center implementation science program to test and compare different training models for health care professionals. The program would study in-person, virtual, simulation, and cohort-based training and measure effects on provider behavior, patient outcomes, and maternal health disparities. HHS would also create and post a public maternal health dashboard with outcome metrics from HHS agencies. These requirements would begin upon enactment.

Stronger rules for rural maternal training grants

If enacted, HHS would change the rural maternal and obstetric care training grant program starting with grants for fiscal year 2027. Grant recipients would need to meet minimum yearly performance milestones to stay eligible for future funding. Milestones must include measures such as the share of staff trained or receiving refresher training with grant support. HHS would also report to Congress and publish an annual public report by January 1, 2027, listing grantees, grant amounts, training formats, geographic coverage, providers trained, and patient-level metrics like clinical outcomes, patient experience, and racial disparities.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE]

DE • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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