The House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent letters to six federal health agencies April 24 requesting briefings on efforts to curb maternal injuries and deaths during childbirth, USA Today reports.
The letters request briefings on what the agencies are doing to improve maternal care services, what more they could be doing to enhance data collection and transparency, and what federal programs could be used to support their efforts.
They were sent to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, CDC, CMS, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
The letter points to several alarming childbirth statistics, including a 2015 World Health Organization report that found that the U.S. was one of about 12 countries where maternal mortality rate increased since 1990. It also cites a USA Today investigation that identified severe childbirth complications among 7 million births between 2014 and 2017.
The House committee letter also references a 2018 AHRQ report that found childbirth complication rates increased 45 percent between 2006 and 2015.