I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Trafficking Awareness 

5 Training for Health Care Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 

2 (a) GRANT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRAC3 TICES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

5 acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare 

6 Research and Quality and in consultation with the Admin7 istrator of the Health Resources and Services Administra8 tion, shall award, on a competitive basis, a grant to an 

9 eligible school under which such school will— 

10 (1) not later than 6 months after receipt of the 

11 award, develop best practices for health care profes12 sionals— 

13 (A) to recognize victims of a severe form of 

14 trafficking; and 

15 (B) to respond appropriately to such indi16 viduals; 

17 (2) in developing best practices under para18 graph (1), survey, analyze, and evaluate, in consulta19 tion with law enforcement personnel, social service 

20 providers, and other experts in the field of human 

21 trafficking, existing best practices that foster the 

22 practice of interprofessional collaboration, including 

23 those used by industries other than the health care 

24 industry, to determine the extent to which such ex25 isting best practices may be adapted for use as part 

26 of the best practices under paragraph (1); 


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1 (3) develop curricula, training modules, or ma2 terials to train health care professionals on the best 

3 practices developed under paragraph (1); 

4 (4) not later than 12 months after the receipt 

5 of the award, make a subgrant to one entity located 

6 near an established anti-human trafficking task 

7 force initiative in each of the 10 administrative re8 gions of the Department of Health and Human 

9 Services— 

10 (A) to design, implement, and evaluate a 

11 pilot program using the best practices developed 

12 under paragraph (1) and the curricula, training 

13 modules, or materials developed under para14 graph (3); 

15 (B) to conduct the pilot program at one or 

16 more eligible sites within the respective region, 

17 which may include an eligible site that is a 

18 school-based health center; and 

19 (C) to complete the implementation and 

20 evaluation of such pilot program within a period 

21 of 6 months; 

22 (5) not later than 24 months after the receipt 

23 of the award, analyze the results of the pilot pro24 grams conducted through subgrants under para25 graph (4), including analyzing— 


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1 (A) changes in the skills, knowledge, and 

2 attitude of health care professionals resulting 

3 from the implementation of the programs; 

4 (B) the number of victims of a severe form 

5 of trafficking who are recognized under the pro6 grams; 

7 (C) of those recognized, the number who 

8 received information or referrals for services of9 fered through the programs; and 

10 (D) of those who received such information 

11 or referrals— 

12 (i) the number who participated in 

13 followup services; and 

14 (ii) the type of followup services re15 ceived; 

16 (6) determine, using the results of the analysis 

17 under paragraph (5), the extent to which the best 

18 practices developed under paragraph (1) are evi19 dence-based; and 

20 (7) submit a comprehensive assessment of the 

21 pilot programs conducted through subgrants under 

22 paragraph (4) to the Secretary of Health and 

23 Human Services, including an identification of— 


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1 (A) the best practices that are determined 

2 pursuant to paragraph (6) to be evidence-based; 

3 and 

4 (B) the best practices that are determined 

5 pursuant to such paragraph to require further 

6 review in order to determine whether they are 

7 evidence-based. 

8 (b) CONTENTS.—The best practices developed 

9 through the grant awarded under subsection (a)— 

10 (1) shall address— 

11 (A) risk factors and indicators to recognize 

12 victims of a severe form of trafficking; 

13 (B) application of Federal and State law, 

14 including reporting requirements, with respect 

15 to victims of a severe form of trafficking; 

16 (C) patient safety and security, including 

17 the requirements of HIPAA privacy and secu18 rity law as applied to victims of a severe form 

19 of trafficking; 

20 (D) the management of medical records of 

21 patients who are victims of a severe form of 

22 trafficking; 

23 (E) public and private social services avail24 able for rescue, food, clothing, and shelter refer25 rals; 


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1 (F) the hotlines for reporting human traf2 ficking maintained by the National Human 

3 Trafficking Resource Center and the Depart4 ment of Homeland Security; 

5 (G) validated assessment tools for the 

6 identification of victims of a severe form of 

7 trafficking; and 

8 (H) referral options and procedures for 

9 sharing information on human trafficking with 

10 a patient and making referrals for legal and so11 cial service assistance related to human traf12 ficking when indicated and appropriate; and 

13 (2) shall not address patient medical treatment. 

14 (c) DISSEMINATION.—Not later than 24 months after 

15 the award of a grant to a school under subsection (a), 

16 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 

17 through the Administrator of the Agency for Healthcare 

18 Research and Quality, shall— 

19 (1) post on the public website of the Depart20 ment of Health and Human Services the best prac21 tices that are identified by the school under subpara22 graphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(7); and 

23 (2) disseminate to health care profession 

24 schools the best practices identified by the school 

25 under subsection (a)(7)(A) and evaluation results. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The term ‘‘eligible site’’ means a health cen4 ter that is receiving assistance under section 330, 

5 399Z–1, or 1001 of the Public Health Service Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 254b, 300). 

7 (2) The term ‘‘eligible school’’ means an accred8 ited school of medicine or nursing with experience in 

9 the study or treatment of victims of a severe form 

10 of trafficking. 

11 (3) The term ‘‘health care professional’’ means 

12 a person employed by a health care provider who 

13 provides to patients information (including informa14 tion not related to medical treatment), scheduling, 

15 services, or referrals. 

16 (4) The term ‘‘HIPAA privacy and security 

17 law’’ has the meaning given to such term in section 

18 3009 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 300jj–19). 

20 (5) The term ‘‘victim of a severe form of traf21 ficking’’ has the meaning given to such term in sec22 tion 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 

23 of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). 


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1 SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA2 TIONS. 

3 No additional funds are authorized to be appro4 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

5 by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 

6 carried out using amounts otherwise available for such 

7 purpose. 

Æ 


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