[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1506 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1506

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the training of 
  health professions students with respect to the identification and 
               referral of victims of domestic violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 30 (legislative day, September 27), 1993

  Mrs. Boxer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the training of 
  health professions students with respect to the identification and 
               referral of victims of domestic violence.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Domestic Violence Identification and 
Referral Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT, FOR CERTAIN HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAMS, OF 
              REQUIREMENTS REGARDING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

    Part G of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
295j et seq.), as added by section 102 of Public Law 102-408 (106 Stat. 
1994), is amended by inserting after section 795 the following section:

``SEC. 796. REQUIREMENTS REGARDING IDENTIFICATION AND REFERRAL OF 
              VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

    ``(a) Submission of Information.--In the case of a health 
professions entity described in subsection (b), the Secretary may make 
an award of a grant or contract under any of parts C through F to the 
entity only if the application submitted under section 798(f)(2) for 
the award describes whether and to what extent the entity has in effect 
the requirement that, as a condition of receiving a degree or 
certificate (as applicable) from the entity, each student have had 
significant training in carrying out the following functions as a 
provider of health care:
            ``(1) Identifying victims of domestic violence, and 
        maintaining complete medical records that include documentation 
        of the examination, treatment given, and referrals made, and 
        recording the location and nature of the victim's injuries.
            ``(2) Examining and treating such victims, within the scope 
        of the health professional's discipline, training, and 
        practice, including, at a minimum, providing medical advice 
        regarding the dynamics and nature of domestic violence.
            ``(3) Referring the victims to public and nonprofit private 
        entities that provide services for such victims.
    ``(b) Designated Health Professions Entities.--A health professions 
entity referred to in subsection (a) is any entity that is a school of 
medicine, a school of osteopathic medicine, a school of public health, 
a graduate program in mental health practice, a school of nursing (as 
defined in section 853), a program for the training of physician 
assistants, or a program for the training of allied health 
professionals.
    ``(c) Limitations on Amount of Awards.--
            ``(1) Determination by secretary.--Before making an award 
        of a grant or contract under any of parts C through F to a 
        designated health professions entity for a fiscal year, the 
        Secretary shall make a determination of whether the entity, as 
        of October 1 of the fiscal year--
                    ``(A) meets the criterion of having in effect the 
                requirement described in subsection (a); and
                    ``(B) meets the criterion of providing, pursuant to 
                such requirement, for the significant training of the 
                students of the entity in the functions described in 
                such subsection.
            ``(2) Limitations.--With respect to fiscal year 1996 and 
        subsequent fiscal years, in the case of a designated health 
        professions entity that is determined under paragraph (1) to 
        have failed to meet a criterion described in such paragraph, 
        the Secretary may not make an award to the entity of a grant or 
        contract under a program of any of parts C through F in an 
        amount exceeding--
                    ``(A) for an award under the program made for the 
                first fiscal year (after fiscal year 1995) for which 
                the entity has so failed, 95 percent of the amount of 
                the most recent award made before fiscal year 1996 to 
                the entity under the program (or if the entity has not 
                previously received such an award, 95 percent of the 
                amount of the award that the Secretary otherwise would 
                have made to the entity);
                    ``(B) for an award under the program made for the 
                second such fiscal year, 90 percent of the amount of 
                the award for the first such year;
                    ``(C) for an award under the program for the third 
                such fiscal year, 85 percent of the amount of the award 
                for the second such year; and
                    ``(D) for an award under the program for the fourth 
                such fiscal year, 80 percent of the amount of the award 
                for the third such fiscal year.
    ``(d) Ineligibility.--With respect to awards of grants and 
contracts under a program of any of parts C through F, in the case of a 
designated health professions entity that has received an award under 
the program for a fourth fiscal year for which the entity has failed to 
meet a criterion described in subsection (c)(1), the following applies:
            ``(1) The entity may not receive any further awards under 
        the program until the entity meets each such criterion.
            ``(2) If the entity meets each such criterion and receives 
        an award under the program, but subsequently fails to do so for 
        any fiscal year, the series of limitations described in 
        subsection (c)(2) shall be applied to further awards to the 
        entity under the program in the same manner and to the same 
        extent as the series was applied to the entity for the initial 
        4 fiscal years (after fiscal year 1995) for which the entity 
        failed to meet such a criterion.
    ``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Designated health professions entity.--The term 
        `designated health professions entity' means an entity 
        described in subsection (b).
            ``(2) Domestic violence.--The term `domestic violence' 
        means any intentional violence, controlling, or coercive 
        behavior or pattern of behavior by an individual who is 
        currently or who was previously, in an intimate or acquaintance 
        relationship with the victim. Such behavior may occur at any 
        stage of the lifecycle and may encompass single acts or a 
        syndrome of actual or threatened physical injury, sexual 
        assault, rape, psychological abuse, or neglect. Such term 
        includes behavior which currently may be described as `child 
        neglect', `child abuse', `spousal abuse', `domestic violence', 
        `woman battering', `partner abuse', `elder abuse', and `date 
        rape'.''.

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