I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2555 

To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to establish a grant program 

to provide grants to local agencies and clinics to improve the health 

of mothers and infants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2021 

Ms. ADAMS (for herself and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to establish 

a grant program to provide grants to local agencies and 

clinics to improve the health of mothers and infants, 

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 ‘‘Community Access, 

5 Resources, and Education for Families Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘CARE for Families Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FUNDS FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP 

2 OUTREACH. 

3 Section 17(h) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 

4 U.S.C. 1786(h)) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(15) COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS

7 GRANTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—Not later 

9 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

10 this paragraph, the Secretary shall carry out a 

11 grant program to make grants to local agencies 

12 and clinics to carry out the activities described 

13 in subparagraph (B). 

14 ‘‘(B) GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—A 

15 local agency or clinic that receives a grant 

16 under this paragraph shall use the grant funds 

17 to carry out activities to enhance collaboration 

18 between— 

19 ‘‘(i) local agencies, clinics, and com20 munity health partners, including other 

21 health care providers, social services pro22 grams, and early childhood learning and 

23 care providers, for the purposes of— 

24 ‘‘(I) establishing linkages be25 tween such entities, such as through 

26 participation in community coalitions; 


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1 ‘‘(II) facilitating referrals be2 tween such entities; 

3 ‘‘(III) implementing evidence4 based strategies to— 

5 ‘‘(aa) improve the health of 

6 communities; 

7 ‘‘(bb) conduct outreach to 

8 potential program participants; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(cc) promote breastfeeding 

11 and access to healthy foods; and 

12 ‘‘(IV) increasing awareness 

13 among such entities and program par14 ticipants (including potential program 

15 participants) of the eligibility require16 ments for, and health benefits of, the 

17 program; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) local agencies, clinics, and health 

19 care entities for the purposes of— 

20 ‘‘(I) facilitating and improving 

21 access to comprehensive prenatal, 

22 postnatal, and postpartum care for 

23 program participants; 

24 ‘‘(II) facilitating certification of 

25 eligibility of persons for participation 


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1 in the program and provision of pro2 gram benefits at the hospital bedside 

3 for eligible postpartum women and in4 fants; 

5 ‘‘(III) improving the coordina6 tion, quality, and cost effectiveness of 

7 health care services; and 

8 ‘‘(IV) ensuring consistent nutri9 tion education and breastfeeding mes10 sages are provided to program partici11 pants. 

12 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to re13 ceive a grant under this paragraph, a local 

14 agency or clinic shall submit an application to 

15 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 

16 and containing such information as the Sec17 retary may require. 

18 ‘‘(D) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA19 TIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—From amounts 

21 appropriated under subsection (g), 

22 $15,000,000 may be made available to 

23 carry out this paragraph for each of fiscal 

24 years 2020 through 2025. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) ADJUSTMENT.—The amount 

2 specified in clause (i) shall be adjusted an3 nually for inflation by the same factor used 

4 to determine the national average per par5 ticipant grant for nutrition services and 

6 administration for the fiscal year under 

7 paragraph (1)(B). 

8 ‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(i) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 

10 means the special supplemental nutrition 

11 program under this section. 

12 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The 

13 term ‘program participant’ means a partic14 ipant in the program. 

15 ‘‘(iii) HEALTH CARE ENTITIES.—The 

16 term ‘health care entities’ includes pedia17 tricians, obstetricians-gynecologists, family 

18 physicians, advance practice nurses, nurse 

19 midwives, community health centers, 

20 health departments, hospitals, facilities 

21 funded by the Indian Health Service and 

22 rural health clinics. 

23 ‘‘(16) INITIATIVE FOR COORDINATING HEALTH

24 INFORMATION EXCHANGE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 

2 days after the date of the enactment of this 

3 paragraph, the Secretary shall establish an ini4 tiative to improve communication between State 

5 agencies and local agencies and medical pro6 viders with respect to program participant 

7 health information related to services provided 

8 under the program. 

9 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out 

10 the initiative established under subparagraph 

11 (A), the Secretary— 

12 ‘‘(i) may only disclose program partic13 ipant health information if the disclosure 

14 of such information is permitted under the 

15 Federal regulations (concerning the privacy 

16 of individually identifiable health informa17 tion) promulgated under section 26(c) of 

18 the Health Insurance Portability and Ac19 countability Act of 1996; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) shall— 

21 ‘‘(I) consult with the Director of 

22 the Office for Civil Rights of the 

23 Health and Human Services Depart24 ment, the National Coordinator for 

25 Health Information Technology, the 


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1 Administrator for the Health Re2 sources and Services Administration, 

3 the Administrator of the Centers for 

4 Medicare & Medicaid Services, and 

5 the Director of the Indian Health 

6 Service; 

7 ‘‘(II) promote bidirectional inter8 operability between management in9 formation systems and electronic 

10 health record systems of health care 

11 providers; and 

12 ‘‘(III) support development of 

13 model software or systems that could 

14 be utilized by multiple State agencies 

15 for the communication described in 

16 subparagraph (A). 

17 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA18 TIONS.—From amounts appropriated under 

19 subsection (g), $50,000,000 may be made avail20 able to carry out this paragraph for fiscal year 

21 2022, to be available until expended. 

22 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(i) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 

24 means the special supplemental nutrition 

25 program under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The 

2 term ‘program participant’ means a partic3 ipant in the program.’’. 

Æ 


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