II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 845 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to expand and intensify programs with respect to research and related activities concerning 

elder falls. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 12, 2007 

Mr. ENZI (for himself and Ms. MIKULSKI) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 

expand and intensify programs with respect to research 

and related activities concerning elder falls. 

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 ‘‘Keeping Seniors Safe 

5 From Falls Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths 

9 among individuals who are over 65 years of age. 


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1 (2) In 2002, falls among older adults accounted 

2 for 12,800 deaths and 1,640,000 emergency depart3 ment visits. 

4 (3) Hospital admissions for hip fractures 

5 among the elderly have increased from 231,000 ad6 missions in 1988 to 327,000 in 2001. 

7 (4) Annually, more than 80,000 individuals who 

8 are over 65 years of age sustain a traumatic brain 

9 injury as a result of a fall. 

10 (5) The total medical cost of all fall injuries for 

11 people age 65 and older was calculated in 2000 to 

12 be $19,500,000,000. 

13 (6) A national approach to reducing falls 

14 among older adults, which focuses on the daily life 

15 of senior citizens in residential, institutional, and 

16 community settings, is needed. 

17 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

18 ACT. 

19 Part J of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

20 (42 U.S.C. 280b et seq.) is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating section 393B (as added by 

22 section 1401 of Public Law 106–386) as section 

23 393C and transferring such section so that it ap24 pears after section 393B (as added by section 1301 

25 of Public Law 106–310); and 


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1 (2) by inserting after section 393C (as redesig2 nated by paragraph (1)) the following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 393D. PREVENTION OF FALLS AMONG OLDER 

4 ADULTS. 

5 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

6 ‘‘(1) to develop effective public education strate7 gies in a national initiative to reduce falls among 

8 older adults in order to educate older adults, family 

9 members, employers, caregivers, and others; 

10 ‘‘(2) to intensify services and conduct research 

11 to determine the most effective approaches to pre12 venting and treating falls among older adults; and 

13 ‘‘(3) to require the Secretary to evaluate the ef14 fect of falls on health care costs, the potential for re15 ducing falls, and the most effective strategies for re16 ducing health care costs associated with falls. 

17 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC EDUCATION.—The Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) oversee and support a national education 

19 campaign to be carried out by a nonprofit organiza20 tion with experience in designing and implementing 

21 national injury prevention programs, that is directed 

22 principally to older adults, their families, and health 

23 care providers, and that focuses on reducing falls 

24 among older adults and preventing repeat falls; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) award grants, contracts, or cooperative 

2 agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, 

3 or consortia of qualified organizations and institu4 tions, for the purpose of organizing State-level coali5 tions of appropriate State and local agencies, safety, 

6 health, senior citizen, and other organizations to de7 sign and carry out local education campaigns, focus8 ing on reducing falls among older adults and pre9 venting repeat falls. 

10 ‘‘(c) RESEARCH.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) conduct and support research to— 

13 ‘‘(i) improve the identification of older 

14 adults who have a high risk of falling; 

15 ‘‘(ii) improve data collection and anal16 ysis to identify fall risk and protective fac17 tors; 

18 ‘‘(iii) design, implement, and evaluate 

19 the most effective fall prevention interven20 tions; 

21 ‘‘(iv) improve strategies that are prov22 en to be effective in reducing falls by tai23 loring these strategies to specific popu24 lations of older adults; 


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1 ‘‘(v) conduct research in order to 

2 maximize the dissemination of proven, ef3 fective fall prevention interventions; 

4 ‘‘(vi) intensify proven interventions to 

5 prevent falls among older adults; 

6 ‘‘(vii) improve the diagnosis, treat7 ment, and rehabilitation of elderly fall vic8 tims and those at high risk for falls; and 

9 ‘‘(viii) assess the risk of falls occur10 ring in various settings; 

11 ‘‘(B) conduct research concerning barriers 

12 to the adoption of proven interventions with re13 spect to the prevention of falls among older 

14 adults; 

15 ‘‘(C) conduct research to develop, imple16 ment, and evaluate the most effective ap17 proaches to reducing falls among high-risk older 

18 adults living in communities and long-term care 

19 and assisted living facilities; and 

20 ‘‘(D) evaluate the effectiveness of commu21 nity programs designed to prevent falls among 

22 older adults. 

23 ‘‘(2) EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary, 

24 either directly or through awarding grants, con25 tracts, or cooperative agreements to qualified organiVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:33 Mar 13, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S845.IS S845

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1 zations, institutions, or consortia of qualified organi2 zations and institutions, shall provide professional 

3 education for physicians and allied health profes4 sionals, and aging service providers in fall preven5 tion, evaluation, and management. 

6 ‘‘(d) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—The Secretary 

7 shall carry out the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) Oversee and support demonstration and 

9 research projects to be carried out by qualified orga10 nizations, institutions, or consortia of qualified orga11 nizations and institutions, in the following areas: 

12 ‘‘(A) A multistate demonstration project 

13 assessing the utility of targeted fall risk screen14 ing and referral programs. 

15 ‘‘(B) Programs designed for community16 dwelling older adults that utilize multicompo17 nent fall intervention approaches, including 

18 physical activity, medication assessment and re19 duction when possible, vision enhancement, and 

20 home modification strategies. 

21 ‘‘(C) Programs that are targeted to new 

22 fall victims who are at a high risk for second 

23 falls and which are designed to maximize inde24 pendence and quality of life for older adults, 


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1 particularly those older adults with functional 

2 limitations. 

3 ‘‘(D) Private sector and public-private 

4 partnerships to develop technologies to prevent 

5 falls among older adults and prevent or reduce 

6 injuries if falls occur. 

7 ‘‘(2)(A) Award grants, contracts, or cooperative 

8 agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, 

9 or consortia of qualified organizations and institu10 tions, to design, implement, and evaluate fall preven11 tion programs using proven intervention strategies 

12 in residential and institutional settings. 

13 ‘‘(B) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or co14 operative agreements to 1 or more qualified organi15 zations, institutions, or consortia of qualified organi16 zations and institutions, in order to carry out a 

17 multistate demonstration project to implement and 

18 evaluate fall prevention programs using proven inter19 vention strategies designed for single and multi20 family residential settings with high concentrations 

21 of older adults, including— 

22 ‘‘(i) identifying high-risk populations; 

23 ‘‘(ii) evaluating residential facilities; 

24 ‘‘(iii) conducting screening to identify high25 risk individuals; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) providing fall assessment and risk re2 duction interventions and counseling; 

3 ‘‘(v) coordinating services with health care 

4 and social service providers; and 

5 ‘‘(vi) coordinating post-fall treatment and 

6 rehabilitation. 

7 ‘‘(3) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or co8 operative agreements to qualified organizations, in9 stitutions, or consortia of qualified organizations and 

10 institutions, to conduct evaluations of the effective11 ness of the demonstration projects described in this 

12 subsection. 

13 ‘‘(e) STUDY OF EFFECTS OF FALLS ON HEALTH

14 CARE COSTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con16 duct a review of the effects of falls on health care 

17 costs, the potential for reducing falls, and the most 

18 effective strategies for reducing health care costs as19 sociated with falls. 

20 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 36 months after 

21 the date of enactment of the Keeping Seniors Safe 

22 From Falls Act of 2007, the Secretary shall submit 

23 to Congress a report describing the findings of the 

24 Secretary in conducting the review under paragraph 

25 (1). 


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1 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In 

2 order to carry out this section, there are authorized to be 

3 appropriated, $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

4 through 2010.’’. 

Æ 


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