Mayes home blood-pressure monitoring bill clears Pa. House

Legislation to cover remote blood-pressure monitors through Medicaid, CHIP

Rep. La'Tasha D. Mayes    May 6, 2024 | 4:48 PM

HARRISBURG, May 6 – Medically necessary at-home blood-pressure monitors would be covered as a pregnancy-related service through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program under a bill passed today by the Pennsylvania House, state Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes, D-Allegheny, announced.

“Preventing high blood pressure or hypertension during pregnancy is vital to addressing maternal mortality, morbidity and disparate maternal health outcomes based on race,” said Mayes, the bill’s author. “If we empower more pregnant and postpartum Medicaid enrollees – especially those living at or below the poverty line – to monitor their blood pressure at home during pregnancy, we could significantly reduce complications such as preeclampsia, eclampsia, preterm delivery, heart attack, heart failure, stroke, and even death. Expanding access to at-home blood-pressure monitoring here in Pennsylvania would save lives and has proven to be a reliable and effective method of improving blood pressure.”

House Bill 2097 passed the House 164-37 and now heads to the state Senate. It is one of eight bills in the Pennsylvania MOMNIBUS legislative package introduced by the Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus to improve maternal health outcomes.