[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 845 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 845

  To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to expand and 
  intensify programs with respect to research and related activities 
                        concerning elder falls.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 12, 2007

Mr. Enzi (for himself and Ms. Mikulski) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to expand and 
  intensify programs with respect to research and related activities 
                        concerning elder falls.

    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 ``Keeping Seniors Safe From Falls Act 
of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths among 
        individuals who are over 65 years of age.
            (2) In 2002, falls among older adults accounted for 12,800 
        deaths and 1,640,000 emergency department visits.
            (3) Hospital admissions for hip fractures among the elderly 
        have increased from 231,000 admissions in 1988 to 327,000 in 
        2001.
            (4) Annually, more than 80,000 individuals who are over 65 
        years of age sustain a traumatic brain injury as a result of a 
        fall.
            (5) The total medical cost of all fall injuries for people 
        age 65 and older was calculated in 2000 to be $19,500,000,000.
            (6) A national approach to reducing falls among older 
        adults, which focuses on the daily life of senior citizens in 
        residential, institutional, and community settings, is needed.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.

    Part J of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
280b et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 393B (as added by section 1401 
        of Public Law 106-386) as section 393C and transferring such 
        section so that it appears after section 393B (as added by 
        section 1301 of Public Law 106-310); and
            (2) by inserting after section 393C (as redesignated by 
        paragraph (1)) the following:

``SEC. 393D. PREVENTION OF FALLS AMONG OLDER ADULTS.

    ``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
            ``(1) to develop effective public education strategies in a 
        national initiative to reduce falls among older adults in order 
        to educate older adults, family members, employers, caregivers, 
        and others;
            ``(2) to intensify services and conduct research to 
        determine the most effective approaches to preventing and 
        treating falls among older adults; and
            ``(3) to require the Secretary to evaluate the effect of 
        falls on health care costs, the potential for reducing falls, 
        and the most effective strategies for reducing health care 
        costs associated with falls.
    ``(b) Public Education.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) oversee and support a national education campaign to 
        be carried out by a nonprofit organization with experience in 
        designing and implementing national injury prevention programs, 
        that is directed principally to older adults, their families, 
        and health care providers, and that focuses on reducing falls 
        among older adults and preventing repeat falls; and
            ``(2) award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to 
        qualified organizations, institutions, or consortia of 
        qualified organizations and institutions, for the purpose of 
        organizing State-level coalitions of appropriate State and 
        local agencies, safety, health, senior citizen, and other 
        organizations to design and carry out local education 
        campaigns, focusing on reducing falls among older adults and 
        preventing repeat falls.
    ``(c) Research.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) conduct and support research to--
                            ``(i) improve the identification of older 
                        adults who have a high risk of falling;
                            ``(ii) improve data collection and analysis 
                        to identify fall risk and protective factors;
                            ``(iii) design, implement, and evaluate the 
                        most effective fall prevention interventions;
                            ``(iv) improve strategies that are proven 
                        to be effective in reducing falls by tailoring 
                        these strategies to specific populations of 
                        older adults;
                            ``(v) conduct research in order to maximize 
                        the dissemination of proven, effective fall 
                        prevention interventions;
                            ``(vi) intensify proven interventions to 
                        prevent falls among older adults;
                            ``(vii) improve the diagnosis, treatment, 
                        and rehabilitation of elderly fall victims and 
                        those at high risk for falls; and
                            ``(viii) assess the risk of falls occurring 
                        in various settings;
                    ``(B) conduct research concerning barriers to the 
                adoption of proven interventions with respect to the 
                prevention of falls among older adults;
                    ``(C) conduct research to develop, implement, and 
                evaluate the most effective approaches to reducing 
                falls among high-risk older adults living in 
                communities and long-term care and assisted living 
                facilities; and
                    ``(D) evaluate the effectiveness of community 
                programs designed to prevent falls among older adults.
            ``(2) Educational support.--The Secretary, either directly 
        or through awarding grants, contracts, or cooperative 
        agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, or 
        consortia of qualified organizations and institutions, shall 
        provide professional education for physicians and allied health 
        professionals, and aging service providers in fall prevention, 
        evaluation, and management.
    ``(d) Demonstration Projects.--The Secretary shall carry out the 
following:
            ``(1) Oversee and support demonstration and research 
        projects to be carried out by qualified organizations, 
        institutions, or consortia of qualified organizations and 
        institutions, in the following areas:
                    ``(A) A multistate demonstration project assessing 
                the utility of targeted fall risk screening and 
                referral programs.
                    ``(B) Programs designed for community-dwelling 
                older adults that utilize multicomponent fall 
                intervention approaches, including physical activity, 
                medication assessment and reduction when possible, 
                vision enhancement, and home modification strategies.
                    ``(C) Programs that are targeted to new fall 
                victims who are at a high risk for second falls and 
                which are designed to maximize independence and quality 
                of life for older adults, particularly those older 
                adults with functional limitations.
                    ``(D) Private sector and public-private 
                partnerships to develop technologies to prevent falls 
                among older adults and prevent or reduce injuries if 
                falls occur.
            ``(2)(A) Award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements 
        to qualified organizations, institutions, or consortia of 
        qualified organizations and institutions, to design, implement, 
        and evaluate fall prevention programs using proven intervention 
        strategies in residential and institutional settings.
            ``(B) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or cooperative 
        agreements to 1 or more qualified organizations, institutions, 
        or consortia of qualified organizations and institutions, in 
        order to carry out a multistate demonstration project to 
        implement and evaluate fall prevention programs using proven 
        intervention strategies designed for single and multifamily 
        residential settings with high concentrations of older adults, 
        including--
                    ``(i) identifying high-risk populations;
                    ``(ii) evaluating residential facilities;
                    ``(iii) conducting screening to identify high-risk 
                individuals;
                    ``(iv) providing fall assessment and risk reduction 
                interventions and counseling;
                    ``(v) coordinating services with health care and 
                social service providers; and
                    ``(vi) coordinating post-fall treatment and 
                rehabilitation.
            ``(3) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or cooperative 
        agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, or 
        consortia of qualified organizations and institutions, to 
        conduct evaluations of the effectiveness of the demonstration 
        projects described in this subsection.
    ``(e) Study of Effects of Falls on Health Care Costs.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct a review of 
        the effects of falls on health care costs, the potential for 
        reducing falls, and the most effective strategies for reducing 
        health care costs associated with falls.
            ``(2) Report.--Not later than 36 months after the date of 
        enactment of the Keeping Seniors Safe From Falls Act of 2007, 
        the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report describing the 
        findings of the Secretary in conducting the review under 
        paragraph (1).
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--In order to carry out this 
section, there are authorized to be appropriated, $25,000,000 for each 
of fiscal years 2008 through 2010.''.
                                 <all>