[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 398 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 398

To provide for the development and dissemination of evidence-based best 
   practices for health care professionals to recognize victims of a 
      severe form of trafficking and respond to such individuals 
                 appropriately, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 16, 2015

  Mrs. Ellmers (for herself and Ms. Wasserman Schultz) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the development and dissemination of evidence-based best 
   practices for health care professionals to recognize victims of a 
      severe form of trafficking and respond to such individuals 
                 appropriately, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Trafficking Awareness Training for 
Health Care Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES.

    (a) Grant for Development of Best Practices.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, acting through the Director of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality and in consultation with the 
Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 
shall award, on a competitive basis, a grant to an eligible school 
under which such school will--
            (1) not later than 6 months after receipt of the award, 
        develop best practices for health care professionals--
                    (A) to recognize victims of a severe form of 
                trafficking; and
                    (B) to respond appropriately to such individuals;
            (2) in developing best practices under paragraph (1), 
        survey, analyze, and evaluate, in consultation with law 
        enforcement personnel, social service providers, and other 
        experts in the field of human trafficking, existing best 
        practices that foster the practice of interprofessional 
        collaboration, including those used by industries other than 
        the health care industry, to determine the extent to which such 
        existing best practices may be adapted for use as part of the 
        best practices under paragraph (1);
            (3) develop curricula, training modules, or materials to 
        train health care professionals on the best practices developed 
        under paragraph (1);
            (4) not later than 12 months after the receipt of the 
        award, make a subgrant to one entity located near an 
        established anti-human trafficking task force initiative in 
        each of the 10 administrative regions of the Department of 
        Health and Human Services--
                    (A) to design, implement, and evaluate a pilot 
                program using the best practices developed under 
                paragraph (1) and the curricula, training modules, or 
                materials developed under paragraph (3);
                    (B) to conduct the pilot program at one or more 
                eligible sites within the respective region, which may 
                include an eligible site that is a school-based health 
                center; and
                    (C) to complete the implementation and evaluation 
                of such pilot program within a period of 6 months;
            (5) not later than 24 months after the receipt of the 
        award, analyze the results of the pilot programs conducted 
        through subgrants under paragraph (4), including analyzing--
                    (A) changes in the skills, knowledge, and attitude 
                of health care professionals resulting from the 
                implementation of the programs;
                    (B) the number of victims of a severe form of 
                trafficking who are recognized under the programs;
                    (C) of those recognized, the number who received 
                information or referrals for services offered through 
                the programs; and
                    (D) of those who received such information or 
                referrals--
                            (i) the number who participated in followup 
                        services; and
                            (ii) the type of followup services 
                        received;
            (6) determine, using the results of the analysis under 
        paragraph (5), the extent to which the best practices developed 
        under paragraph (1) are evidence-based; and
            (7) submit a comprehensive assessment of the pilot programs 
        conducted through subgrants under paragraph (4) to the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services, including an 
        identification of--
                    (A) the best practices that are determined pursuant 
                to paragraph (6) to be evidence-based; and
                    (B) the best practices that are determined pursuant 
                to such paragraph to require further review in order to 
                determine whether they are evidence-based.
    (b) Contents.--The best practices developed through the grant 
awarded under subsection (a)--
            (1) shall address--
                    (A) risk factors and indicators to recognize 
                victims of a severe form of trafficking;
                    (B) application of Federal and State law, including 
                reporting requirements, with respect to victims of a 
                severe form of trafficking;
                    (C) patient safety and security, including the 
                requirements of HIPAA privacy and security law as 
                applied to victims of a severe form of trafficking;
                    (D) the management of medical records of patients 
                who are victims of a severe form of trafficking;
                    (E) public and private social services available 
                for rescue, food, clothing, and shelter referrals;
                    (F) the hotlines for reporting human trafficking 
                maintained by the National Human Trafficking Resource 
                Center and the Department of Homeland Security;
                    (G) validated assessment tools for the 
                identification of victims of a severe form of 
                trafficking; and
                    (H) referral options and procedures for sharing 
                information on human trafficking with a patient and 
                making referrals for legal and social service 
                assistance related to human trafficking when indicated 
                and appropriate; and
            (2) shall not address patient medical treatment.
    (c) Dissemination.--Not later than 24 months after the award of a 
grant to a school under subsection (a), the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality, shall--
            (1) post on the public website of the Department of Health 
        and Human Services the best practices that are identified by 
        the school under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection 
        (a)(7); and
            (2) disseminate to health care profession schools the best 
        practices identified by the school under subsection (a)(7)(A) 
        and evaluation results.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``eligible site'' means a health center that 
        is receiving assistance under section 330, 399Z-1, or 1001 of 
        the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b, 300).
            (2) The term ``eligible school'' means an accredited school 
        of medicine or nursing with experience in the study or 
        treatment of victims of a severe form of trafficking.
            (3) The term ``health care professional'' means a person 
        employed by a health care provider who provides to patients 
        information (including information not related to medical 
        treatment), scheduling, services, or referrals.
            (4) The term ``HIPAA privacy and security law'' has the 
        meaning given to such term in section 3009 of the Public Health 
        Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300jj-19).
            (5) The term ``victim of a severe form of trafficking'' has 
        the meaning given to such term in section 103 of the 
        Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102).

SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act and the amendments made by this Act, and this Act and such 
amendments shall be carried out using amounts otherwise available for 
such purpose.
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