114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 398 

AN ACT 

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, 
2 

•HR 398 EH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 Training for Health Care Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 

5 (a) GRANT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRAC6 TICES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

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

8 acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare 

9 Research and Quality and in consultation with the Admin10 istrator of the Health Resources and Services Administra11 tion, shall award, on a competitive basis, a grant to an 

12 eligible school under which such school will— 

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

14 award, develop best practices for health care profes15 sionals— 

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

17 trafficking; and 

18 (B) to respond appropriately to such indi19 viduals; 

20 (2) in developing best practices under para21 graph (1), survey, analyze, and evaluate, in consulta22 tion with law enforcement personnel, social service 

23 providers, and other experts in the field of human 

24 trafficking, existing best practices that foster the 

25 practice of interprofessional collaboration, including 

26 those used by industries other than the health care 
3 

•HR 398 EH

1 industry, to determine the extent to which such ex2 isting best practices may be adapted for use as part 

3 of the best practices under paragraph (1); 

4 (3) develop curricula, training modules, or ma5 terials to train health care professionals on the best 

6 practices developed under paragraph (1); 

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

8 of the award, make a subgrant to 1 entity located 

9 near an established anti-human trafficking task 

10 force initiative in each of the 10 administrative re11 gions of the Department of Health and Human 

12 Services— 

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

14 pilot program using the best practices developed 

15 under paragraph (1) and the curricula, training 

16 modules, or materials developed under para17 graph (3); 

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

19 more eligible sites within the respective region, 

20 which may include an eligible site that is a 

21 school-based health center; and 

22 (C) to complete the implementation and 

23 evaluation of such pilot program within a period 

24 of 6 months; 
4 

•HR 398 EH

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

2 of the award, analyze the results of the pilot pro3 grams conducted through subgrants under para4 graph (4), including analyzing— 

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

6 attitude of health care professionals resulting 

7 from the implementation of the programs; 

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

9 of trafficking who are recognized under the pro10 grams; 

11 (C) of those recognized, the number who 

12 received information or referrals for services of13 fered through the programs; and 

14 (D) of those who received such information 

15 or referrals— 

16 (i) the number who participated in 

17 followup services; and 

18 (ii) the type of followup services re19 ceived; 

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

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

22 practices developed under paragraph (1) are evi23 dence-based; and 

24 (7) submit a comprehensive assessment of the 

25 pilot programs conducted through subgrants under 
5 

•HR 398 EH

1 paragraph (4) to the Secretary of Health and 

2 Human Services, including an identification of— 

3 (A) the best practices that are determined 

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

5 and 

6 (B) the best practices that are determined 

7 pursuant to such paragraph to require further 

8 review in order to determine whether they are 

9 evidence-based. 

10 (b) CONTENTS.—The best practices developed 

11 through the grant awarded under subsection (a)— 

12 (1) shall address— 

13 (A) risk factors and indicators to recognize 

14 victims of a severe form of trafficking; 

15 (B) application of Federal and State law, 

16 including reporting requirements, with respect 

17 to victims of a severe form of trafficking; 

18 (C) patient safety and security, including 

19 the requirements of HIPAA privacy and secu20 rity law as applied to victims of a severe form 

21 of trafficking; 

22 (D) the management of medical records of 

23 patients who are victims of a severe form of 

24 trafficking; 
6 

•HR 398 EH

1 (E) public and private social services avail2 able for rescue, food, clothing, and shelter refer3 rals; 

4 (F) the hotlines for reporting human traf5 ficking maintained by the National Human 

6 Trafficking Resource Center and the Depart7 ment of Homeland Security; 

8 (G) validated assessment tools for the 

9 identification of victims of a severe form of 

10 trafficking; and 

11 (H) referral options and procedures for 

12 sharing information on human trafficking with 

13 a patient and making referrals for legal and so14 cial service assistance related to human traf15 ficking when indicated and appropriate; and 

16 (2) shall not address patient medical treatment. 

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

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

19 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 

20 through the Administrator of the Agency for Healthcare 

21 Research and Quality, shall— 

22 (1) post on the public website of the Depart23 ment of Health and Human Services the best prac24 tices that are identified by the school under subpara25 graphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(7); and 
7 

•HR 398 EH

1 (2) disseminate to health care profession 

2 schools the best practices identified by the school 

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

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) The term ‘‘eligible site’’ means a health cen7 ter that is receiving assistance under section 330, 

8 399Z–1, or 1001 of the Public Health Service Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 254b, 300). 

10 (2) The term ‘‘eligible school’’ means an accred11 ited school of medicine or nursing with experience in 

12 the study or treatment of victims of a severe form 

13 of trafficking. 

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

15 a person employed by a health care provider who 

16 provides to patients information (including informa17 tion not related to medical treatment), scheduling, 

18 services, or referrals. 

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

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

21 3009 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 300jj–19). 

23 (5) The term ‘‘victim of a severe form of traf24 ficking’’ has the meaning given to such term in sec-
8 

•HR 398 EH

1 tion 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 

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

3 SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA4 TIONS. 

5 No additional funds are authorized to be appro6 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

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

8 carried out using amounts otherwise available for such 

9 purpose. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 27, 

2015. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 398 

AN ACT 

To provide for the development and dissemination 

uals appropriately, and for other purposes. form of trafficking and respond to such individprofessionals to recognize victims of a severe of evidence-based best practices for health care