113 HR 29 IH: Mobile Medical Homeless Health Improvement Act of 2013
U.S. House of Representatives
2013-01-03
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Mobile Medical Homeless Health Improvement Act of
2013
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)The number of
people experiencing homelessness on a single night increased by 1.1 percent
from 643,067 in January 2009 to 649,917 in January 2010. California, New York,
and Florida accounted for 40 percent of the total homeless population.
(2)A
total of 79,446 family households, including 241,951 persons in families, were
homeless as of January 2010. Since 2009, the number of homeless families
increased 1.2 percent, and the number of homeless persons in families increased
1.6 percent.
(3)The number of
people who were chronically homeless, persons with severe disabilities and
long-term homeless histories, decreased 1 percent between 2009 and 2010, from
110,917 to 109,812.
(4)Out of those
homeless individuals in a shelter, 34.7 percent suffered from substance abuse
and 26.2 percent had a serious mental illness.
(5)Mobile medical
health care services can effectively reach homeless populations and provide
primary care, screenings, dental care, medications, behavioral health care,
immunizations, lab tests, case management, benefits assistance and assessments,
and triage.
(6)Mobile medical
health care services can provide health care to homeless adults and children in
urban, rural, and suburban areas.
(7)The average cost
of a visit to a provider of mobile medical health care services is
significantly below the average cost of an emergency department visit. Visiting
a mobile medical health care service instead of the emergency department can
result in a cost savings of more than $800 per visit.
3.Improving access
of homeless individuals to medical servicesSubpart I of Part D of title III of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
330M.Partnerships
to improve access of homeless individuals to medical services
(a)The Secretary may
award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to eligible entities
described in subsection (b) to enable such entities to improve access of
homeless individuals to mobile medical health care services.
(b)To be eligible for a
grant, contract, or agreement under this section an entity shall—
(1)be a partnership
consisting of—
(A)one or more
hospitals; and
(B)one or more other
local health care facilities, including clinics, health centers, primary care
facilities, mental health centers, pharmacies, or other mobile medical assets
(as such term is defined for purposes of section 319C–2), whether or not such a
local health care facility is owned (either in whole or in part) by a
partnering hospital described in subparagraph (A); and
(2)submit to the
Secretary, an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Secretary may require.
(c)A grant, contract, or
agreement awarded under this section may be expended only for activities to
increase access of homeless individuals to mobile medical services, including
primary health services (as defined in section 330(b)(1)), substance abuse
services (as defined in section 330(h)(5)), and mental health
counseling.
(d)A hospital or health
care facility shall not be eligible for a grant, contract, or agreement under
this section with respect to more than one partnership described in subsection
(b)(1).
(e)In awarding a grant, contract, or agreement
under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to any application from a
geographic area that has a comparatively high ratio of homeless individuals to
non-homeless individuals.
(f)Supplement not
supplant requirementA grant,
contract, or agreement awarded under this section shall be expended to
supplement, and not supplant, the expenditures of the eligible entity involved
and the value of in kind contributions for the delivery of services to homeless
individuals.
(g)Temporary
continued provision of services to certain former homeless
individualsIf any grantee under this section has provided
services described in this section to a homeless individual under the grant,
contract, or agreement awarded under this section, such grantee may,
notwithstanding that the individual is no longer homeless as a result of
becoming a resident in permanent housing, expend the amount so awarded to
continue to provide such services to the individual for not more than 12
months.
(h)For purposes of this section:
(1)The term
homeless individual has the meaning given such term in section
330(h)(5).
(2)Mobile medical
health care servicesThe term mobile medical health care
service means any health care related service provided in a moveable
vehicle or a non-permanent
clinic.
.