II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1402

To amend the Social Security Act to establish a community health aide

program for Alaskan communities that do not qualify for the Community

Health Aide Program for Alaska operated through the Indian Health

Service.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 7, 1997

Mr. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Social Security Act to establish a community

health aide program for Alaskan communities that do

not qualify for the Community Health Aide Program

for Alaska operated through the Indian Health Service.

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 ‘‘Alaskan Community

5 Health Aide Program Expansion Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Numerous communities in Alaska have no

2 physicians or health care providers of any kind.

3 (2) While those communities are served by

4 Alaskan public health nurses on an itinerant basis,

5 Alaskan law prohibits those nurses from treating pa6 tients for individual health concerns.

7 (3) Physical and cultural isolation is so severe

8 in those communities that private health care provid9 ers often opt not to serve those communities.

10 (4) Not enough Native Alaskans reside in such

11 communities to warrant placement of a community

12 health aide pursuant to the Community Health Aide

13 Program for Alaska operated through the Indian

14 Health Service.

15 SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF THE COMMUNITY HEALTH AIDE

16 PROGRAM FOR ALASKA.

17 Part A of title XI of the Social Security Act (42

18 U.S.C. 1301–1320b–16), as amended by section 4321(c)

19 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1320b–

20 16), is amended by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘ALASKAN COMMUNITY HEALTH AIDE PROGRAM

22 ‘‘SEC. 1147. Not later than October 1, 1998, the Sec23 retary shall establish an Alaskan Community Health Aide

24 Program (in this section referred to as the ‘Program’)

25 under which the Secretary shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) provide for the training of Alaskans as

2 community health aides or community health practi3 tioners;

4 ‘‘(2) use such aides or practitioners in the pro5 vision of health care, health promotion, and disease

6 prevention services to Alaskans living in commu7 nities that do not qualify for the Community Health

8 Aide Program for Alaska operated through the In9 dian Health Service and established under section

10 119 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25

11 U.S.C. 1616l);

12 ‘‘(3) provide for the establishment of teleconfer13 encing capacity in health clinics located in or near

14 such communities for use by community health aides

15 or community health practitioners;

16 ‘‘(4) using trainers accredited under the Pro17 gram, provide a high standard of training to commu18 nity health aides and community health practitioners

19 to ensure that such aides and practitioners provide

20 quality health care, health promotion, and disease

21 prevention services to the Alaskan communities

22 served by the Program;

23 ‘‘(5) develop a curriculum for the training of

24 such aides and practitioners that—
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1 ‘‘(A) combines education in the theory of

2 health care with supervised practical experience

3 in the provision of health care; and

4 ‘‘(B) provides instruction and practical ex5 perience in the provision of acute care, emer6 gency care, health promotion, disease preven7 tion, and the efficient and effective manage8 ment of clinic pharmacies, supplies, equipment,

9 and facilities;

10 ‘‘(6) establish and maintain a Community

11 Health Aide Certification Board to certify as com12 munity health aides or community health practition13 ers individuals who have successfully completed the

14 training described in paragraphs (4) and (5), or can

15 demonstrate equivalent experience;

16 ‘‘(7) develop and maintain a system which iden17 tifies the needs of community health aides and com18 munity health practitioners for continuing education

19 in the provision of health care, including the areas

20 described in paragraph (5)(B), and develop pro21 grams that meet the needs for such continuing edu22 cation;

23 ‘‘(8) develop and maintain a system that pro24 vides close supervision of community health aides

25 and community health practitioners; and
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1 ‘‘(9) develop a system under which the work of

2 community health aides and community health prac3 titioners is reviewed and evaluated to ensure the pro4 vision of quality health care, health promotion, and

5 disease prevention services in accordance with this

6 section.’’.

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