[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6109 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6109

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of 
   Health and Human Services to ensure that each HHS health service 
  program or HHS health survey provides, to the extent the Secretary 
determines appropriate and practicable, for the voluntary collection of 
 data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of individuals who 
   apply for or receive health services through such program, or who 
                        respond to such survey.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 14, 2010

      Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Pallone, and Mrs. 
 Christensen) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of 
   Health and Human Services to ensure that each HHS health service 
  program or HHS health survey provides, to the extent the Secretary 
determines appropriate and practicable, for the voluntary collection of 
 data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of individuals who 
   apply for or receive health services through such program, or who 
                        respond to such survey.

    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 ``Health Data Collection Improvement 
Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. DATA COLLECTION ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY.

    Title XXXI of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300kk et 
seq.) is amended by inserting after section 3101 the following new 
section:

``SEC. 3102. DATA COLLECTION ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall ensure that, beginning not 
later than 1 year after the dissemination of standards under subsection 
(c)(3), each HHS health service program and HHS health survey provides, 
to the extent the Secretary determines appropriate and practicable, for 
the collection of data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of 
individuals who apply for or receive health services through such 
program, or who respond to such survey.
    ``(b) Provision and Use of Information.--
            ``(1) Voluntary basis.--Provision of information by an 
        individual in response to a collection pursuant to subsection 
        (a) shall be only on a voluntary basis.
            ``(2) Limitation.--An agency or person that collects data 
        from an individual pursuant to subsection (a) shall not use 
        such data, or the decision of the individual not to provide 
        such data, in any manner that adversely affects the individual.
    ``(c) Data Standards.--
            ``(1) Development.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
        Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human 
        Services and relevant data collection agencies, shall develop 
        standards for the measurement of, and collection of information 
        about, sexual orientation and gender identity. In developing 
        the standards, the Secretary shall take into account 
        recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine Committee on 
        Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health Issues and 
        Research Gaps and Opportunities.
            ``(2) Inclusion of certain standards.--The standards 
        developed under paragraph (1) shall include standards--
                    ``(A) for categorization of sexual orientation and 
                gender identity, including questions to facilitate 
                categorization;
                    ``(B) for appropriate methods to collect 
                information to maximize voluntary participation, 
                preserve privacy and confidentiality, and avoid 
                unintended negative consequences to an individual or 
                program; and
                    ``(C) that address the feasibility of data 
                collection in different contexts and the 
                appropriateness and analytical validity of collection 
                within specific programs or types of programs.
            ``(3) Dissemination.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
        of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall disseminate 
        the standards developed under paragraph (1) to the offices and 
        agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, other 
        Federal departments and agencies that administer health service 
        programs, and other interested parties.
            ``(4) Revision.--The Secretary shall revise the standards 
        developed under paragraph (1), and disseminate the revised 
        standards, as the Secretary determines appropriate.
    ``(d) Analysis.--
            ``(1) Departmental analysis.--For each HHS health service 
        program and HHS health survey, the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) analyze data collected under subsection (a) 
                to detect and monitor health disparities based on 
                sexual orientation and gender identity at the Federal 
                and State levels; and
                    ``(B) report to the Congress and the public the 
                results of such analyses.
            ``(2) Integration of data analyses.--The Secretary shall 
        integrate data analyses conducted under paragraph (1) with 
        other activities of the Department of Health and Human Services 
        that identify and analyze health disparities by race, 
        ethnicity, sex, disability, primary language, or other 
        population.
            ``(3) Availability of data.--The Secretary shall, as 
        appropriate, enter into data use agreements between the 
        Department of Health and Human Services (or offices and 
        agencies thereof) and other governmental agencies and 
        nongovernmental entities, pursuant to which the Secretary shall 
        make available to such agencies and entities aggregated data 
        (excluding any personally identifiable information about an 
        individual) collected under subsection (a).
    ``(e) Privacy and Other Safeguards.--The protections and safeguards 
described in section 3101(e)(1) shall apply to data collected pursuant 
to subsection (a) of this section to the same extent and in the same 
manner as such protections and safeguards apply to data collected 
pursuant to section 3101(a).
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `HHS health service program' means a program 
        conducted or supported by the Department of Health and Human 
        Services through which direct preventive health or medical 
        treatment services are delivered to individuals, either in a 
        clinical or community setting.
            ``(2) The term `HHS health survey' means data collection 
        efforts conducted or supported by the Department of Health and 
        Human Services to obtain information directly from individual 
        respondents for the purpose of aggregating statistical 
        information.''.
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