News.UTexas.edu

Three bills under consideration at the Texas Legislature would help Texas make great strides in reducing maternal health disparity by extending Medicaid benefits for a full year, supporting doula programs and requiring a curriculum on implicit bias and systemic inequities for health care practitioners. Texas HB 4301 proposes to provide medical assistance reimbursement for doula services, including childbirth education and emotional and physical support during pregnancy, labor, birth and the postpartum period. Passage of this bill would strengthen organizations which offers doula postpartum home visits and then transitions new black mothers to “sister circles.” The organization also offers training to understand systemic inequities in the health care system. House bills 719 and 607 require coursework and continuing education in cultural competence and implicit bias for physicians.