II

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1531 

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 

JULY 28, 2005 

Mr. ENZI (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. 

GRASSLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mrs. DOLE) 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 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Falls are the leading cause of injury deaths 

2 among individuals who are over 65 years of age. 

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

4 for 12,800 deaths and 1,640,000 emergency depart5 ment visits. 

6 (3) Hospital admissions for hip fractures 

7 among the elderly have increased from 231,000 ad8 missions in 1988 to 327,000 in 2001. 

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

10 are over 65 years of age sustain a traumatic brain 

11 injury as a result of a fall. 

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

13 people age 65 and older was calculated in 2000 to 

14 be $19,500,000,000. 

15 (6) A national approach to reducing falls 

16 among older adults, which focuses on the daily life 

17 of senior citizens in residential, institutional, and 

18 community settings, is needed. 

19 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 

20 ACT. 

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

22 (42 U.S.C. 280b et seq.) is amended— 

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

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

25 393C and transferring such section so that it ap-
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1 pears after section 393B (as added by section 1301 

2 of Public Law 106–310); and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 393C (as redesig4 nated by paragraph (1)) the following: 

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

6 ADULTS. 

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

8 ‘‘(1) to develop effective public education strate9 gies in a national initiative to reduce falls among 

10 older adults in order to educate older adults, family 

11 members, employers, caregivers, and others; 

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

13 to determine the most effective approaches to pre14 venting and treating falls among older adults; and 

15 ‘‘(3) to require the Secretary to evaluate the ef16 fect of falls on health care costs, the potential for re17 ducing falls, and the most effective strategies for re18 ducing health care costs associated with falls. 

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

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

21 campaign to be carried out by a nonprofit organiza22 tion with experience in designing and implementing 

23 national injury prevention programs, that is directed 

24 principally to older adults, their families, and health 
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1 care providers, and that focuses on reducing falls 

2 among older adults and preventing repeat falls; and 

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

4 agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, 

5 or consortia of qualified organizations and institu6 tions, for the purpose of organizing State-level coali7 tions of appropriate State and local agencies, safety, 

8 health, senior citizen, and other organizations to de9 sign and carry out local education campaigns, focus10 ing on reducing falls among older adults and pre11 venting repeat falls. 

12 ‘‘(c) RESEARCH.— 

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

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

15 ‘‘(i) improve the identification of older 

16 adults who have a high risk of falling; 

17 ‘‘(ii) improve data collection and anal18 ysis to identify fall risk and protective fac19 tors; 

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

21 the most effective fall prevention interven22 tions; 

23 ‘‘(iv) improve strategies that are prov24 en to be effective in reducing falls by tai-
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1 loring these strategies to specific popu2 lations of older adults; 

3 ‘‘(v) conduct research in order to 

4 maximize the dissemination of proven, ef5 fective fall prevention interventions; 

6 ‘‘(vi) intensify proven interventions to 

7 prevent falls among older adults; 

8 ‘‘(vii) improve the diagnosis, treat9 ment, and rehabilitation of elderly fall vic10 tims and those at high risk for falls; and 

11 ‘‘(viii) assess the risk of falls occur12 ring in various settings; 

13 ‘‘(B) conduct research concerning barriers 

14 to the adoption of proven interventions with re15 spect to the prevention of falls among older 

16 adults; 

17 ‘‘(C) conduct research to develop, imple18 ment, and evaluate the most effective ap19 proaches to reducing falls among high-risk older 

20 adults living in communities and long-term care 

21 and assisted living facilities; and 

22 ‘‘(D) evaluate the effectiveness of commu23 nity programs designed to prevent falls among 

24 older adults. 
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1 ‘‘(2) EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT.—The Secretary, 

2 either directly or through awarding grants, con3 tracts, or cooperative agreements to qualified organi4 zations, institutions, or consortia of qualified organi5 zations and institutions, shall provide professional 

6 education for physicians and allied health profes7 sionals, and aging service providers in fall preven8 tion, evaluation, and management. 

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

10 shall carry out the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) Oversee and support demonstration and 

12 research projects to be carried out by qualified orga13 nizations, institutions, or consortia of qualified orga14 nizations and institutions, in the following areas: 

15 ‘‘(A) A multistate demonstration project 

16 assessing the utility of targeted fall risk screen17 ing and referral programs. 

18 ‘‘(B) Programs designed for community19 dwelling older adults that utilize multicompo20 nent fall intervention approaches, including 

21 physical activity, medication assessment and re22 duction when possible, vision enhancement, and 

23 home modification strategies. 

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

25 fall victims who are at a high risk for second 
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1 falls and which are designed to maximize inde2 pendence and quality of life for older adults, 

3 particularly those older adults with functional 

4 limitations. 

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

6 partnerships to develop technologies to prevent 

7 falls among older adults and prevent or reduce 

8 injuries if falls occur. 

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

10 agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, 

11 or consortia of qualified organizations and institu12 tions, to design, implement, and evaluate fall preven13 tion programs using proven intervention strategies 

14 in residential and institutional settings. 

15 ‘‘(B) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or co16 operative agreements to 1 or more qualified organi17 zations, institutions, or consortia of qualified organi18 zations and institutions, in order to carry out a 

19 multistate demonstration project to implement and 

20 evaluate fall prevention programs using proven inter21 vention strategies designed for single and multi22 family residential settings with high concentrations 

23 of older adults, including— 

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

25 ‘‘(ii) evaluating residential facilities; 
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1 ‘‘(iii) conducting screening to identify high2 risk individuals; 

3 ‘‘(iv) providing fall assessment and risk re4 duction interventions and counseling; 

5 ‘‘(v) coordinating services with health care 

6 and social service providers; and 

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

8 rehabilitation. 

9 ‘‘(3) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or co10 operative agreements to qualified organizations, in11 stitutions, or consortia of qualified organizations and 

12 institutions, to conduct evaluations of the effective13 ness of the demonstration projects described in this 

14 subsection. 

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

16 CARE COSTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con18 duct a review of the effects of falls on health care 

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

20 effective strategies for reducing health care costs as21 sociated with falls. 

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

23 the date of enactment of the Keeping Seniors Safe 

24 From Falls Act of 2005, the Secretary shall submit 

25 to Congress a report describing the findings of the 
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1 Secretary in conducting the review under paragraph 

2 (1). 

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

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

5 appropriated— 

6 ‘‘(1) to carry out the national public education 

7 provisions described in subsection (b)(1), $3,000,000 

8 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2009; 

9 ‘‘(2) to carry out the State public education 

10 campaign provisions of subsection (b)(2), 

11 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 

12 2009; 

13 ‘‘(3) to carry out research projects described in 

14 subsection (c), $8,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

15 2007 through 2009; 

16 ‘‘(4) to carry out the demonstration projects de17 scribed in subsection (d)(1), $4,000,000 for each of 

18 fiscal years 2007 through 2009; and 

19 ‘‘(5) to carry out the demonstration and re20 search projects described in subsection (d)(2), 

21 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 

22 2009.’’. 

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