[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3796 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3796

  To establish community health improvement councils and State health 
            improvement technical assistance center grants.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 16, 2010

   Mr. Bayh introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish community health improvement councils and State health 
            improvement technical assistance center grants.

    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 ``Community Health Improvement 
Councils Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT COUNCILS AND STATE HEALTH 
              IMPROVEMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER GRANTS.

    Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 399V-5. COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT COUNCILS AND STATE HEALTH 
              IMPROVEMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER GRANTS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish a program for the 
creation of State Health Improvement Technical Assistance Centers and 
Community Health Improvement Councils.
    ``(b) State Health Improvement Technical Assistance Center Grant 
Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants, on a 
        competitive basis, to 5 eligible entities for the purpose of 
        establishing State Health Improvement Technical Assistance 
        Centers designed to--
                    ``(A) improve individual and community health 
                status, especially in communities and regions with poor 
                health status performance;
                    ``(B) slow annual growth in health care utilization 
                and medical spending;
                    ``(C) coordinate best practices among networks of 
                local coalitions that result in accelerated locally 
                driven issue identification and creative ways to align 
                improvement efforts with payment reforms;
                    ``(D) partner with the Agency for Healthcare 
                Research and Quality to design and produce the annual 
                report of such agency on health care quality;
                    ``(E) serve as a resource to communities to provide 
                assistance in identifying reliable national resources 
                and research tools to promote health, improve health 
                literacy, and accelerate the diffusion of innovations 
                to improve health outcomes;
                    ``(F) partner with organizations to design and 
                implement locally driven payment innovations to improve 
                quality and productivity; and
                    ``(G) educate State policymakers on the benefits of 
                locally driven community health improvement councils 
                that engage community stakeholders, including small 
                businesses, local governments, faith leaders, civic 
                leaders, and consumer advocacy representatives.
            ``(2) Eligibility.--
                    ``(A) In general.--To be eligible to receive a 
                grant under this subsection, an entity shall be--
                            ``(i) a private nonprofit entity with a 
                        governing board comprised of \1/4\ consumer, 
                        faith, minority, nonprofit and charitable 
                        organization, philanthropic, and civic leaders; 
                        \1/4\ purchasers of care, including employers, 
                        unions, and insurers; \1/4\ local government 
                        officials, including mayors, county 
                        commissioners, State legislators, and public 
                        health officials; and \1/4\ private health care 
                        leaders and experts; or
                            ``(ii) a consortium of 2 or more of the 
                        nonprofit entities described in clause (i).
                    ``(B) Preferences.--In awarding grants under this 
                section, the Secretary shall give preference to 
                entities that--
                            ``(i) demonstrate the capacity to attract 
                        private sector or local government funding to 
                        ensure fiscal sustainability;
                            ``(ii) address significant health 
                        disparities, including those identified by the 
                        Secretary through other Federal programs;
                            ``(iii) demonstrate coordination or 
                        collaboration across governmental and 
                        nongovernmental sectors;
                            ``(iv) are committed to promoting full 
                        transparency of all deliberations of the 
                        Technical Assistance Centers and Community 
                        Health Improvement Councils; and
                            ``(v) are independent from government and 
                        the financial self-interest of healthcare and 
                        purchasers stakeholders.
            ``(3) Activities.--Each Technical Assistance Center 
        established through a grant awarded under this subsection 
        shall--
                    ``(A) establish up to 4 Community Health 
                Improvement Councils, as described in subsection (c);
                    ``(B) provide technical assistance to such 
                councils, including community organizing, public 
                relations, communications, and public education 
                services, computer networking, grants development, 
                system performance monitoring, opinion surveys, data 
                management, community meeting facilitation, and 
                strategic planning;
                    ``(C) partner with Federal, State, and local health 
                agencies, such as area health education centers, the 
                Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, public 
                health departments, and insurance exchanges; and
                    ``(D) deliver an annual performance report to the 
                Secretary and the nonprofit entity receiving the grant, 
                containing data regarding improvements in local and 
                State health status, clinical outcomes, reductions in 
                medical spending growth, and health care disparities.
            ``(4) Funding.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each Technical Assistance Center 
                established under a grant awarded under this subsection 
                shall receive an award in an amount determined by the 
                Secretary, but not to exceed $1,500,000 per year for 3 
                years.
                    ``(B) Use of funds.--Each such Technical Assistance 
                Center shall allocate 80 percent of the total amount 
                awarded each year to the Community Health Improvement 
                Councils established by such recipient under paragraph 
                (3)(B).
    ``(c) Community Health Improvement Councils.--In this section, 
`Community Health Improvement Council' means a locally driven, private 
nonprofit entity that serves as the neutral convener for engaging 
providers and insurers, that fully engages patients and citizens in 
coordinating and improving the health care delivery system through 
community-wide education programs to promote healthier lifestyles, 
improve local or regional health status, clinical outcomes, and 
reductions in the growth in medical spending and health disparities 
through any of the following approaches:
            ``(1) Promotion of wellness, prevention and expanded public 
        health and consumer education efforts.
            ``(2) Enhancement of the care delivery experience through 
        local health system infrastructure and care redesign changes 
        such as the primary care medical home, accelerated information 
        exchange implementation, community-wide chronic disease 
        management programs, and all-payer evidence-based clinical 
        protocols.
            ``(3) Alignment of provider and consumer financial 
        incentives through accelerated payer experiments with non-fee-
        for-service payment arrangements and innovative consumer 
        incentives built into the benefits design of health plans.
            ``(4) Restructuring of local health care governance, such 
        as--
                    ``(A) formation of accountable care teams across 
                medical practices and institutions;
                    ``(B) integration of primary care and public 
                health; and
                    ``(C) integration of doctors and hospitals.
            ``(5) Track, document, and make publicly available, in a 
        transparent manner, system performance and improvement.
    ``(d) Report.--The Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual 
report on the grant program under this section, including both local 
and State progress toward improvement of health status, clinical 
outcomes, and reductions in the growth of medical spending.''.
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