[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3317 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3317

 To provide grants to strengthen State and local health care systems' 
 response to domestic violence by building the capacity of health care 
  professionals and staff to identify, address, and prevent domestic 
                               violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 10, 1999

  Mrs. Lowey (for herself, and Mrs. Morella) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide grants to strengthen State and local health care systems' 
 response to domestic violence by building the capacity of health care 
  professionals and staff to identify, address, and prevent 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 ``Rx for Abuse Act''.

SEC 2. GRANTS TO ADDRESS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS.

    (a) In General.--The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act 
(42 U.S.C. 10401 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 319. GRANTS TO ADDRESS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN HEALTH CARE 
              SETTINGS.

    ``(a) General Purpose Grants.--The Secretary, acting through the 
Office of Family Violence and Prevention Services of the Administration 
for Children and Families, may award grants to eligible State and local 
entities to strengthen the State and local health care system's 
response to domestic violence by building the capacity of health care 
professionals and staff to identify, address, and prevent domestic 
violence.
    ``(b) State Grants.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may award grants under 
        subsection (a) to entities eligible under paragraph (2) for the 
        conduct of not to exceed 10 Statewide programs for the design 
        and implementation of statewide strategies to enable health 
        care workers to improve the health care system's response to 
        treatment and prevention of domestic violence as provided for 
        in subsection (d).
            ``(2) Eligible entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant 
        under paragraph (1) an entity shall--
                    ``(A) be a State health department, nonprofit State 
                domestic violence coalition, State professional medical 
                society, State health professional association, or 
                other nonprofit or State entity with a history of 
                effective work in the field of domestic violence;
                    ``(B) demonstrate to the Secretary that such entity 
                is representing a team of organizations and agencies 
                working collaboratively to strengthen the health care 
                system's response to domestic violence and that such 
                team includes representatives from domestic violence 
                and health care organizations; and
                    ``(C) prepare and submit to the Secretary an 
                application at such time, in such manner, and 
                containing such information as the Secretary may 
                require.
            ``(3) Limitation.--The Secretary may not award a grant to a 
        State health department under paragraph (1) unless the State 
        health department can certify that State laws, policies, and 
        practices do not require health care professionals and staff to 
        report incidents of domestic violence against adult victims to 
        law enforcement officials without the patient's consent. This 
        prohibition does not apply to the anonymous reporting or 
        reporting of de-identified information for the purposes of data 
        collection and analysis.
            ``(4) Term and amount.--A grant under this section shall be 
        for a term of up to 4 years and for an amount not to exceed 
        $2,000,000 per year.
    ``(c) Local Demonstration Grants.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may award grants under 
        subsection (a) to entities eligible under paragraph (2) for the 
        conduct of not to exceed 10 demonstration projects for the 
        design and implementation of a strategy to improve the response 
        of local health care professionals and staff to the treatment 
        and prevention of domestic violence.
            ``(2) Eligible entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant 
        under paragraph (1) an entity shall--
                    ``(A) be a local health department, tribal health 
                board, or tribal health organization, local or tribal 
                nonprofit domestic violence organization or service 
                provider, local or tribal professional medical society 
                or health professional association, local nonprofit 
                health care delivery system or nonprofit hospital, or 
                other nonprofit, tribal nonprofit, tribal government, 
                or local government entity that has a history of 
                effective work in the field of domestic violence;
                    ``(B) demonstrate to the Secretary that such entity 
                is representing a team of organizations working 
                collaboratively to strengthen the health care system's 
                response to domestic violence and that such team 
                includes representatives from domestic violence and 
                health care organizations; and
                    ``(C) prepare and submit to the Secretary an 
                application at such time, in such manner, and 
                containing such information as the Secretary may 
                require.
            ``(3) Term and amount.--A grant under this section shall be 
        for a term of up to 2 years and for an amount not to exceed 
        $100,000 per year.
    ``(d) Use of Funds.--Amounts provided under a grant under this 
section shall be used to design and implement comprehensive statewide 
and local strategies to improve the health care response to domestic 
violence in hospitals, clinics, managed care settings, emergency 
medical services, and other health care settings. Such a strategy shall 
include--
            ``(1) the development, implementation, dissemination, and 
        evaluation of policies and procedures to guide health care 
professionals and staff responding to domestic violence;
            ``(2) the provision of training and follow-up technical 
        assistance to health care professionals and staff to screen for 
        domestic violence, and then to appropriately assess, record in 
        medical records, treat, and refer patients who are victims of 
        domestic violence to domestic violence services;
            ``(3) the implementation of practice guidelines for routine 
        screening and recording mechanisms to identify and document 
        domestic violence, including guidelines to ensure that the 
        patient is fully informed of any State laws regarding reporting 
        domestic violence crimes and potential risks to the patient 
        before screening is performed, and the institutionalization of 
        such guidelines and mechanisms in quality improvement 
        measurements such as patient record reviews, staff interviews, 
        patient surveys, or other methods used to evaluate and enhance 
        staff compliance with protocols;
            ``(4) the development and implementation of policies, 
        protocols, and strategies to ensure that the health and 
        personal information of a patient who identifies or is 
        identified as a victim of abuse is collected and held in a 
        manner that protects the patient's privacy and safety;
            ``(5) the development of on-site access to services to 
        address the safety, medical, mental health, and economic needs 
        of patients and to provide information and assistance related 
        to the additional needs of patients who are victims of domestic 
        violence achieved either by increasing the capacity of existing 
        health care professionals and staff to address these issues or 
        by contracting with or hiring domestic violence advocates to 
        provide the services or other model appropriate to the 
        geographic and cultural needs of a site;
            ``(6) the development of innovative and effective 
        comprehensive approaches to domestic violence identification, 
        treatment, and prevention models unique to managed care 
        settings, such as--
                    ``(A) exploring ways to compensate health care 
                professionals and staff for screening and other 
                services related to domestic violence;
                    ``(B) developing built-in incentives such as 
                billing mechanisms and protocols to encourage health 
                care professionals and staff to implement screening and 
                other domestic violence programs; or
                    ``(C) contracts or other agreements which provide 
                nonprofit community-based agencies with expertise 
                serving victims of domestic violence payment to provide 
                domestic violence victims access to advocates and 
                services in health care settings; and
            ``(7) activities deemed necessary by the Secretary to 
        enable evaluation.
    ``(e) Evaluation.--The Secretary may use not to exceed 5 percent of 
the amount appropriated under subsection (f) to evaluate the economic, 
health, and safety benefits of the programs and activities conducted by 
grantees under this section and the extent to which the 
institutionalization of such activities has been achieved. The 
Secretary shall ensure that all data is collected and maintained in a 
manner that protects the subject's privacy and safety. The Secretary 
shall further ensure, to the maximum extent possible, that all data and 
health information is collected in a nonidentifiable manner, and in the 
event that nonidentifiable data is not feasible, the Secretary shall 
ensure that the subject's consent was obtained for the use and transfer 
of such information.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
        to carry out this section--
                    ``(A) $11,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2001 
                through 2003; and
                    ``(B) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
            ``(2) Availability.--Amounts appropriated under paragraph 
        (1) shall remain available until expended.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--Section 305(a) of the Family Violence 
Prevention and Services Act (42 U.S.C. 10405(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``an employee'' and inserting ``one or more 
        employees''; and
            (2) by striking ``individual'' and inserting 
        ``individuals''.
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