Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes Prevention, Access, and Care Act of 2015

Summary: Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes Prevention, Access, and Care Act of 2015 This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the National Institutes of Health to: (1) expand, intensify, and support activities regarding prediabetes and diabetes, particularly type 2, in minority populations; (2) award grants for a mentoring program for health care professionals to be more involved in weight counseling, obesity research, and nutrition; (3) provide for the participation of minority health professionals in diabetes-focused research programs; and (4) award grants for programs to establish a pipeline from high school to professional school that will increase minority representation in diabetes-focused health fields.  The Diabetes Mellitus Interagency Coordinating Committee must report on federal activities regarding prediabetes and diabetes in minority populations and prepare a plan to address prediabetes and diabetes in minority populations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must conduct and support research and public health activities regarding diabetes in minority populations. The Division of Diabetes Translation must educate the public on diabetes in minority populations and educate minority populations on diabetes. The National Diabetes Education Program must educate specific minority populations through culturally and linguistically appropriate information campaigns. The Health Resources and Services Administration must educate health professionals on diabetes in minority populations. The Indian Health Service must: (1) conduct and support research and other activities regarding diabetes; and (2) coordinate the collection of data on clinically and culturally appropriate diabetes services. The Department of Health and Human Services must arrange for the National Academy of Medicine (formerly known as the Institute of Medicine) to update its report entitled &quot;Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care.&quot;

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Eliminating Disparities in Diabetes 
Prevention, Access, and Care Act of 2015''.

                 TITLE I--NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

SEC. 101. RESEARCH, TREATMENT, AND EDUCATION.

    (a) In General.--Subpart 3 of part C of title IV of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285c et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section:

``SEC. 434B. DIABETES IN MINORITY POPULATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director of NIH shall expand, intensify, and 
support ongoing research and other activities with respect to 
prediabetes and diabetes, particularly type 2, in minority populations.
    ``(b) Research.--
            ``(1) Description.--Research under subsection (a) shall 
        include investigation into--
                    ``(A) the causes of diabetes, including 
                socioeconomic, geographic, clinical, environmental, 
                genetic, and other factors that may contribute to 
                increased rates of diabetes in minority populations; 
                and
                    ``(B) the causes of increased incidence of diabetes 
                complications in minority populations, and possible 
                interventions to decrease such incidence.
            ``(2) Inclusion of minority participants.--In conducting 
        and supporting research described in subsection (a), the 
        Director of NIH shall seek to include minority participants as 
        study subjects in clinical trials.
    ``(c) Report; Comprehensive Plan.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Diabetes Mellitus Interagency 
        Coordinating Committee shall--
                    ``(A) prepare and submit to the Congress, not later 
                than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 
                section, a report on Federal research and public health 
                activities with respect to prediabetes and diabetes in 
                minority populations; and
                    ``(B) develop and submit to the Congress, not later 
                than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
                section, an effective and comprehensive Federal plan 
                (including all appropriate Federal health programs) to 
                address prediabetes and diabetes in minority 
                populations.
            ``(2) Contents.--The report under paragraph (1)(A) shall at 
        minimum address each of the following:
                    ``(A) Research on diabetes and prediabetes in 
                minority populations, including such research on--
                            ``(i) genetic, behavioral, and 
                        environmental factors; and
                            ``(ii) prevention and complications among 
                        individuals within these populations who have 
                        already developed diabetes.
                    ``(B) Surveillance and data collection on diabetes 
                and prediabetes in minority populations, including with 
                respect to--
                            ``(i) efforts to better determine the 
                        prevalence of diabetes among Asian American and 
                        Pacific Islander subgroups; and
                            ``(ii) efforts to coordinate data 
                        collection on the American Indian population.
                    ``(C) Community-based interventions to address 
                diabetes and prediabetes targeting minority 
                populations, including--
                            ``(i) the evidence base for such 
                        interventions;
                            ``(ii) the cultural appropriateness of such 
                        interventions; and
                            ``(iii) efforts to educate the public on 
                        the causes and consequences of diabetes.
                    ``(D) Education and training programs for health 
                professionals (including community health workers) on 
                the prevention and management of diabetes and its 
                related complications that is supported by the Health 
                Resources and Services Administration, including such 
                programs supported by--
                            ``(i) the National Health Service Corps; or
                            ``(ii) the community health centers program 
                        under section 330.
    ``(d) Education.--The Director of NIH shall--
            ``(1) through the National Institute on Minority Health and 
        Health Disparities and the National Diabetes Education 
        Program--
                    ``(A) make grants to programs funded under section 
                464z-4 (relating to centers of excellence) for the 
                purpose of establishing a mentoring program for health 
                care professionals to be more involved in weight 
                counseling, obesity research, and nutrition; and
                    ``(B) provide for the participation of minority 
                health professionals in diabetes-focused research 
                programs; and
            ``(2) make grants for programs to establish a pipeline from 
        high school to professional school that will increase minority 
        representation in diabetes-focused health fields by expanding 
        Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) program internships 
        and mentoring opportunities for recruitment.
    ``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) The `Diabetes Mellitus Interagency Coordinating 
        Committee' means the Diabetes Mellitus Interagency Coordinating 
        Committee established under section 429.
            ``(2) The term `minority population' means a racial and 
        ethnic minority group, as defined in section 1707.''.

          TITLE II--CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

SEC. 201. RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.

    Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317T the following 
section:

``SEC. 317U. DIABETES IN MINORITY POPULATIONS.

    ``(a) Research and Other Activities.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the 
        Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
        shall conduct and support research and public health activities 
        with respect to diabetes in minority populations.
            ``(2) Certain activities.--Activities under paragraph (1) 
        regarding diabetes in minority populations shall include the 
        following:
                    ``(A) Further enhancing the National Health and 
                Nutrition Examination Survey by over-sampling Asian 
                American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islanders 
                in appropriate geographic areas to better determine the 
                prevalence of diabetes in such populations as well as 
                to improve the data collection of diabetes penetration 
                disaggregated into major ethnic groups within such 
                populations. The Secretary shall ensure that any such 
                oversampling does not reduce the oversampling of other 
                minority populations including African-American and 
                Latino populations.
                    ``(B) Through the Division of Diabetes 
                Translation--
                            ``(i) providing for prevention research to 
                        better understand how to influence health care 
                        systems changes to improve quality of care 
                        being delivered to such populations;
                            ``(ii) carrying out model demonstration 
                        projects to design, implement, and evaluate 
                        effective diabetes prevention and control 
                        interventions for minority populations, 
                        including culturally appropriate community-
                        based interventions;
                            ``(iii) developing and implementing a 
                        strategic plan to reduce diabetes in minority 
                        populations through applied research to reduce 
                        disparities and culturally and linguistically 
                        appropriate community-based interventions;
                            ``(iv) supporting, through the national 
                        diabetes prevention program under section 399V-
                        3, diabetes prevention program sites in 
                        underserved regions highly impacted by 
                        diabetes; and
                            ``(v) implementing, through the national 
                        diabetes prevention program under section 399V-
                        3, a demonstration program developing new 
                        metrics measuring health outcomes related to 
                        diabetes that can be stratified by specific 
                        minority populations.
    ``(b) Education.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall direct the Division 
of Diabetes Translation to conduct and support both programs to educate 
the public on diabetes in minority populations and programs to educate 
minority populations about the causes and effects of diabetes.
    ``(c) Diabetes; Health Promotion, Prevention Activities, and 
Access.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention and the National Diabetes Education 
Program, shall conduct and support programs to educate specific 
minority populations through culturally appropriate and linguistically 
appropriate information campaigns about prevention of, and managing, 
diabetes.
    ``(d) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `minority 
population' means a racial and ethnic minority group, as defined in 
section 1707.''.

        TITLE III--HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION

SEC. 301. RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.

    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 new 
section:

``SEC. 399V-6. PROGRAMS TO EDUCATE HEALTH PROVIDERS ON THE CAUSES AND 
              EFFECTS OF DIABETES IN MINORITY POPULATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the Health Resources and Services Administration, shall conduct and 
support programs described in subsection (b) to educate health 
professionals on the causes and effects of diabetes in minority 
populations.
    ``(b) Programs.--Programs described in this subsection, with 
respect to education on diabetes in minority populations, shall include 
the following:
            ``(1) Giving priority, under the primary care training and 
        enhancement program under section 747--
                    ``(A) to awarding grants to focus on or address 
                diabetes; and
                    ``(B) adding minority populations to the list of 
                vulnerable populations that should be served by such 
                grants.
            ``(2) Providing additional funds for the Health Careers 
        Opportunity Program, Centers for Excellence, and the Minority 
        Faculty Fellowship Program to partner with the Office of 
        Minority Health under section 1707 and the National Institutes 
        of Health to strengthen programs for career opportunities 
        focused on diabetes treatment and care within underserved 
        regions highly impacted by diabetes.
            ``(3) Developing a diabetes focus within, and providing 
        additional funds for, the National Health Service Corps 
        Scholarship Program--
                    ``(A) to place individuals in areas that are 
                disproportionately affected by diabetes and to provide 
                diabetes treatment and care in such areas; and
                    ``(B) to provide such individuals continuing 
                medical education specific to diabetes care.''.

                    TITLE IV--INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE

SEC. 401. RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.

    Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
280g et seq.), as amended by section 301, is further amended by adding 
at the end the following section:

``SEC. 399V-7. RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND OTHER ACTIVITIES REGARDING 
              DIABETES IN AMERICAN INDIAN POPULATIONS.

    ``In addition to activities under sections 317V-6 and 434B, the 
Secretary, acting through the Indian Health Service and in 
collaboration with other appropriate Federal agencies, shall--
            ``(1) conduct and support research and other activities 
        with respect to diabetes; and
            ``(2) coordinate the collection of data on clinically and 
        culturally appropriate diabetes treatment, care, prevention, 
        and services by health care professionals to the American 
        Indian population.''.

                 TITLE V--INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE REPORT

SEC. 501. UPDATED REPORT ON HEALTH DISPARITIES.

    The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall seek to enter into 
an arrangement with the Institute of Medicine under which the Institute 
will--
            (1) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
        this Act, submit to the Congress an updated version of the 
        Institute's 2002 report entitled ``Unequal Treatment: 
        Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care''; and
            (2) in such updated version, address how racial and ethnic 
        health disparities have changed since the publication of the 
        original report.