I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5961 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 

demonstration project to award grants to, and enter into contracts with, 

medical-legal partnerships to assist patients and their families to navigate 

health-related programs and activities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2010 

Mr. MAFFEI (for himself, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Ms. SUTTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to establish a demonstration project to award grants 

to, and enter into contracts with, medical-legal partnerships to assist patients and their families to navigate 

health-related programs and activities. 

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 ‘‘Medical-Legal Partner5 ship for Health Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Numerous studies and reports, including 

4 the annual National Healthcare Disparities Report 

5 and Unequal Treatment, the 2002 Institute of Medi6 cine Report, document the extensiveness to which 

7 vulnerable populations suffer from health disparities 

8 across the country. 

9 (2) These studies have found that, on average, 

10 racial and ethnic minorities and low-income popu11 lations are disproportionately afflicted with chronic 

12 and acute conditions such as asthma, cancer, diabe13 tes, and hypertension and suffer worse health out14 comes, worse health status, and higher mortality 

15 rates. 

16 (3) Several recent studies also show that health 

17 and healthcare quality are a function of not only ac18 cess to healthcare, but also the social determinants 

19 of health, including the environment, the physical 

20 structure of communities, socio-economic status, nu21 trition, educational attainment, employment, race, 

22 ethnicity, geography, and language preference, that 

23 directly and indirectly affect the health, healthcare, 

24 and wellness of individuals and communities. 

25 (4) Formally integrating medical and legal pro26 fessionals in the health setting can more effectively 


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1 address the health needs of vulnerable populations 

2 and ultimately reduce health disparities. 

3 (5) All over the United States, healthcare pro4 viders who take care of low-income individuals and 

5 families are partnering with legal professionals to 

6 assist them in providing better quality of healthcare. 

7 (6) Medical-legal partnerships integrate lawyers 

8 in a health setting to help patients navigate the com9 plex government, legal, and service systems in ad10 dressing social determinants of health, such as in11 come supports for food insecure families and mold 

12 removal from the home of asthmatics. 

13 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to— 

14 (1) support and advance opportunity for med15 ical-legal partnerships to be more fully integrated in 

16 healthcare settings nationwide; 

17 (2) to improve the quality of care for vulnerable 

18 populations by reducing health disparities among 

19 health disparities populations and addressing the so20 cial determinants of health; and 

21 (3) identify and develop cost-effective strategies 

22 that will improve patient outcomes and realize sav23 ings for healthcare systems. 


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1 SEC. 3. MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIPS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

3 Human Services shall establish a nationwide demonstra4 tion project consisting of— 

5 (1) awarding grants to, and entering into con6 tracts with, medical-legal partnerships to assist pa7 tients and their families to navigate programs and 

8 activities; and 

9 (2) evaluating the effectiveness of such partner10 ships. 

11 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, directly 

13 or through grants or contracts, provide technical as14 sistance to grantees under subsection (a)(1) or 

15 through a national organization described in para16 graph (2) to support the establishment and sustain17 ability of medical-legal partnerships. Not to exceed 5 

18 percent of the amount appropriated to carry out this 

19 section in a fiscal year may be used for purposes of 

20 this subsection. 

21 (2) NATIONAL ORGANIZATION DESCRIBED.—A 

22 national organization described in this paragraph is 

23 a national organization experienced in bringing to24 gether both the medical and legal professions on be25 half of vulnerable populations. 


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1 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received as a grant 

2 or pursuant to a contract under this section shall be used 

3 to assist patients and their families to navigate health4 related programs and activities for purposes of achieving 

5 one or more of the following goals: 

6 (1) Enhancing access to health care services. 

7 (2) Improving health outcomes for low-income 

8 individuals, as defined in subsection (h). 

9 (3) Reducing health disparities among health 

10 disparities populations. 

11 (4) Enhancing wellness and prevention of 

12 chronic conditions and other health problems. 

13 (5) Reducing cost of care to the healthcare sys14 tem. 

15 (6) Addressing the social determinants of 

16 health. 

17 (7) Addressing situational factors that con18 tribute to poor health, such as poor housing. 

19 (d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

20 or contract under this section, an entity shall submit to 

21 the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 

22 and containing such information as the Secretary may re23 quire, including information demonstrating that the appli24 cant has experience in bridging the medical and legal proVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:51 Jul 31, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5961.IH H5961

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1 fessions or a strategy or plan for cultivating and building 

2 medical-legal partnerships. 

3 (e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—For each fiscal year, 

4 the Secretary may not award a grant or contract under 

5 this section to an entity unless the entity agrees to make 

6 available non-Federal contributions (which may include in7 kind contributions) toward the costs of a grant or contract 

8 awarded under this section in an amount that is not less 

9 than $1 for each $10 of Federal funds provided under the 

10 grant or contract. 

11 (f) PROHIBITION.—No funds under this section may 

12 be used— 

13 (1) for any medical malpractice action or pro14 ceeding; 

15 (2) to provide any State or local public benefit 

16 (as defined in section 411(c) of the Personal Re17 sponsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 

18 Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1621(c)) to an alien who is 

19 not— 

20 (A) a qualified alien (as defined in section 

21 431 of the Immigration and Nationality Act); 

22 (B) a nonimmigrant under the Immigra23 tion and Nationality Act; or 


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1 (C) an alien who is paroled into the United 

2 States under section 212(d)(5) of such Act for 

3 less than one year; or 

4 (3) to provide legal assistance with respect to 

5 any proceeding or litigation which seeks to procure 

6 an abortion or to compel any individual or institu7 tion to perform an abortion, or assist in the per8 formance of an abortion. 

9 (g) REPORTS.— 

10 (1) FINAL REPORT BY SECRETARY.—Not later 

11 than 6 months after the date of the completion of 

12 the demonstration project under this section, the 

13 Secretary shall conduct a study of the results of the 

14 project and submit to the Congress a report on such 

15 results that includes the following: 

16 (A) An evaluation of the project outcomes, 

17 including— 

18 (i) a description of the extent to which 

19 medical-legal partnerships funded through 

20 this section achieved the purposes de21 scribed in section 2(b); 

22 (ii) quantitative and qualitative anal23 ysis of baseline and benchmark measures 

24 of the project’s impact as delineated under 

25 subsection (c); and 


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1 (iii) aggregate information about the 

2 individuals served and project activities. 

3 (B) Recommendations on whether the ac4 tivities funded under this section could be used 

5 to improve patient outcomes in other public 

6 health areas. 

7 (2) INTERIM REPORTS BY SECRETARY.—The 

8 Secretary may provide interim reports to the Con9 gress on the demonstration project under this sec10 tion at such intervals as the Secretary determines to 

11 be appropriate. 

12 (3) REPORTS BY GRANTEES.—The Secretary 

13 may require each recipient of a grant or contract 

14 under this section to submit interim and final re15 ports on the activities carried out by such recipient 

16 with such grant. 

17 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) The term ‘‘health disparities populations’’ 

19 has the meaning given such term in section 485E(d) 

20 of the Public Health Service Act. 

21 (2) The term ‘‘low-income individuals’’ refers to 

22 the population of individuals and families who earn 

23 up to 200 percent of the Federal poverty level appli24 cable to the size of the family involved. 


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1 (3) The term ‘‘medical-legal partnership’’ 

2 means an entity— 

3 (A) that is a partnership between— 

4 (i) a community health center, public 

5 hospital, children’s hospital, or other pro6 vider of health care services to a signifi7 cant number of low-income individuals; and 

8 (ii) one or more legal professionals; 

9 and 

10 (B) whose primary mission is to assist pa11 tients and their families navigate health-related 

12 programs, activities, and services through the 

13 provision of relevant civil legal assistance on14 site in the healthcare setting involved, in con15 junction with regular training for healthcare 

16 staff and providers regarding the connections 

17 between legal interventions, social determinants, 

18 and health of low-income individuals. 

19 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

20 of Health and Human Services. 

21 (i) FUNDING.— 

22 (1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

23 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this section such sums as may be necessary, but not 


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1 to exceed $10,000,000, for each of the fiscal years 

2 2011 through 2015. 

3 (2) LIMITATION.—Of the amounts appropriated 

4 pursuant to paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, the Sec5 retary may obligate not more than 5 percent for the 

6 administrative expenses of the Secretary in carrying 

7 out this section. 

Æ 


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