Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Oct 14, 2003
Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Act or the PREEMIE Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to expand and coordinate research relating to preterm labor and delivery and infant mortality.
Establishes within NIH two networks: a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network and a Neonatal Research Unit Network.
Requires the Director of the CDC to study and report on the relationship between prematurity, birth defects, and developmental disabilities as well as review the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Survey.
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Requires the Director of NIH to contract with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for a study on the health and economic consequences of preterm birth.
Directs the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration to assess the current national core performance and outcome measures under the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant with the goal of expanding them to include known risk factors of low birthweight and prematurity such as smoking by pregnant women.
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants for a demonstration project to improve the provision of information on prematurity to health professionals and other health care providers and the public.
Funds grants for projects to support the informational and emotional needs of families during the stay of an infant in a neonatal intensive care unit (nicu).
Establishes an Interagency Coordinating Council on Prematurity and Low Birthweight.
Source last updated: Aug 18, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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