I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5511 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to require that the recommendations 
of the United States Preventive Services Task Force on the effectiveness, 
appropriateness, and cost-effectiveness of clinical preventive services be 
based on data for the respective populations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 13, 2018 
Mr. EVANS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to require that 
the recommendations of the United States Preventive 
Services Task Force on the effectiveness, appropriate-
ness, and cost-effectiveness of clinical preventive services 
be based on data for the respective populations, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy Communities 
Act of 2018’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:12 Apr 18, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5511.IH
H5511
SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Despite marked reductions in health dis-
parities following the enactment of the Affordable 
Care Act (Public Law 111–148), racial and ethnic 
disparities in medical status and access to health 
care persist in the United States. 
(2) According to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol, from 2010 to 2014, breast cancer mortality was 
41 percent higher among African-American women 
than White women. 
(3) According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 
among individuals in the United States who are over 
65 years of age, African-American individuals are 
about twice as likely to have Alzheimer’s disease, 
and Hispanic individuals are about 11⁄2 times as 
likely as White individuals. 
(4) The National Institutes of Health finds that 
African Americans, despite making up 13 percent of 
the population of the United States, account for 
about 35 percent of individuals with kidney failure 
in the United States. 
(5) According to research published in the 
Journal Frontiers in Bioscience, in the United 
States, African American men are 1.6 times as likely 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:12 Apr 18, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5511.IH
H5511
SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
to develop, and 2 times as likely to die from, pros-
tate cancer when compared to White men. 
(6) Underutilization of preventive health serv-
ices remains a barrier to reducing the chronic dis-
ease burden in the United States, particularly 
among racial and ethnic minorities. 
(7) The Surgeon General of the Public Health 
Service has stated that ‘‘Reducing disparities in 
health will give everyone a chance to live a healthy 
life and improve the quality of life for all Ameri-
cans.’’. 
SEC. 3. BASING RECOMMENDATIONS OF UNITED STATES 
PREVENTIVE 
SERVICES 
TASK 
FORCE 
ON 
DATA FOR THE RESPECTIVE POPULATIONS. 
Section 915(a) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 299b–4(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(8) BASING RECOMMENDATIONS ON DATA FOR 
RESPECTIVE POPULATIONS.—In making and updat-
ing recommendations on the effectiveness, appro-
priateness, and cost-effectiveness of clinical preven-
tive services, as described in paragraph (1), the 
Task Force shall base such recommendations on 
data for the respective populations, including health 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:12 Apr 18, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H5511.IH
H5511
SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
disparity populations (as defined in section 464z– 
3(d)).’’. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:12 Apr 18, 2018
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H5511.IH
H5511
SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS