IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 507 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 16, 2007 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To establish a grant program to provide vision care to 

children, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vision Care for Kids 

3 Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Millions of children in the United States 

7 suffer from vision problems, many of which go unde8 tected. Because children with vision problems can 

9 struggle developmentally, resulting in physical, emo10 tional, and social consequences, good vision is essen11 tial for proper physical development and educational 

12 progress. 

13 (2) Vision problems in children range from 

14 common conditions such as refractive errors, ambly15 opia, strabismus, ocular trauma, and infections, to 

16 rare but potentially life- or sight-threatening prob17 lems such as retinoblastoma, infantile cataracts, con18 genital glaucoma, and genetic or metabolic diseases 

19 of the eye. 

20 (3) Since many serious ocular conditions are 

21 treatable if identified in the preschool and early 

22 school-age years, early detection provides the best 

23 opportunity for effective treatment and can have far24 reaching implications for vision. 

25 (4) Various identification methods, including vi26 sion screening and comprehensive eye examinations 


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1 required by State laws, can be helpful in identifying 

2 children needing services. A child identified as need3 ing services through vision screening should receive 

4 a comprehensive eye examination followed by subse5 quent treatment as needed. Any child identified as 

6 needing services should have access to subsequent 

7 treatment as needed. 

8 (5) There is a need to increase public awareness 

9 about the prevalence and devastating consequences 

10 of vision disorders in children and to educate the 

11 public and health care providers about the warning 

12 signs and symptoms of ocular and vision disorders 

13 and the benefits of early detection, evaluation, and 

14 treatment. 

15 SEC. 3. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHILDREN. 

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

17 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec18 retary’’), acting through the Director of the Centers for 

19 Disease Control and Prevention, may award grants to 

20 States on the basis of an established review process for 

21 the purpose of complementing existing State efforts for— 

22 (1) providing comprehensive eye examinations 

23 by a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist for chil24 dren who have been previously identified through a 

25 vision screening or eye examination by a licensed 


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1 health care provider or vision screener as needing 

2 such services, with priority given to children who are 

3 under the age of 9 years; 

4 (2) providing treatment or services, subsequent 

5 to the examinations described in paragraph (1), nec6 essary to correct vision problems; and 

7 (3) developing and disseminating, to parents, 

8 teachers, and health care practitioners, educational 

9 materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment 

10 in children. 

11 (b) CRITERIA AND COORDINATION.— 

12 (1) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation 

13 with appropriate professional and patient organiza14 tions including individuals with knowledge of age ap15 propriate vision services, shall develop criteria— 

16 (A) governing the operation of the grant 

17 program under subsection (a); and 

18 (B) for the collection of data related to vi19 sion assessment and the utilization of follow-up 

20 services. 

21 (2) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall, as 

22 appropriate, coordinate the program under sub23 section (a) with the program under section 330 of 

24 the Public Health Service Act (relating to health 

25 centers) (42 U.S.C. 254b), the program under title 


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1 XIX of the Social Security Act (relating to the Med2 icaid program) (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), the pro3 gram under title XXI of such Act (relating to the 

4 State children’s health insurance program) (42 

5 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.), and with other Federal or 

6 State programs that provide services to children. 

7 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

8 under subsection (a), a State shall submit to the Secretary 

9 an application in such form, made in such manner, and 

10 containing such information as the Secretary may require, 

11 including— 

12 (1) information on existing Federal, Federal13 State, or State-funded children’s vision programs; 

14 (2) a plan for the use of grant funds, including 

15 how funds will be used to complement existing State 

16 efforts (including possible partnerships with non17 profit entities); 

18 (3) a plan to determine if a grant eligible child 

19 has been identified as provided for in subsection (a); 

20 and 

21 (4) a description of how funds will be used to 

22 provide items or services, only as a secondary 

23 payer— 

24 (A) for an eligible child, to the extent that 

25 the child is not covered for the items or services 


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1 under any State compensation program, under 

2 an insurance policy, or under any Federal or 

3 State health benefits program; or 

4 (B) for an eligible child, to the extent that 

5 the child receives the items or services from an 

6 entity that provides health services on a prepaid 

7 basis. 

8 (d) EVALUATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

9 under subsection (a), a State shall agree that, not later 

10 than 1 year after the date on which amounts under the 

11 grant are first received by the State, and annually there12 after while receiving amounts under the grant, the State 

13 will submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the oper14 ations and activities carried out under the grant, includ15 ing— 

16 (1) an assessment of the utilization of vision 

17 services and the status of children receiving these 

18 services as a result of the activities carried out 

19 under the grant; 

20 (2) the collection, analysis, and reporting of 

21 children’s vision data according to guidelines pre22 scribed by the Secretary; and 

23 (3) such other information as the Secretary 

24 may require. 


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1 (e) LIMITATIONS IN EXPENDITURE OF GRANT.—A 

2 grant may be made under subsection (a) only if the State 

3 involved agrees that the State will not expend more than 

4 20 percent of the amount received under the grant to 

5 carry out the purpose described in paragraph (3) of such 

6 subsection. 

7 (f) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the costs of 

9 the activities to be carried out with a grant under 

10 subsection (a), a condition for the receipt of the 

11 grant is that the State involved agrees to make 

12 available (directly or through donations from public 

13 or private entities) non-Federal contributions toward 

14 such costs in an amount that is not less than 25 

15 percent of such costs. 

16 (2) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT CONTRIB17 UTED.—Non-Federal contributions required in para18 graph (1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evalu19 ated, including plant, equipment, or services. 

20 Amounts provided by the Federal Government, or 

21 services assisted or subsidized to any significant ex22 tent by the Federal Government, may not be in23 cluded in determining the amount of such non-Fed24 eral contributions. 


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1 (g) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

2 term ‘‘comprehensive eye examination’’ includes an assess3 ment of a patient’s history, general medical observation, 

4 external and ophthalmoscopic examination, visual acuity, 

5 ocular alignment and motility, refraction, and as appro6 priate, binocular vision or gross visual fields, performed 

7 by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist. 

8 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

9 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 

10 to be appropriated $65,000,000 for the period of fiscal 

11 years 2009 through 2013. 

Passed the House of Representatives October 15, 

2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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