I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 398 
To provide for the development and dissemination of evidence-based best 
practices for health care professionals to recognize victims of a severe 
form of trafficking and respond to such individuals appropriately, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2015 
Mrs. ELLMERS (for herself and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for the development and dissemination of evi-
dence-based best practices for health care professionals 
to recognize victims of a severe form of trafficking and 
respond to such individuals appropriately, 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 ‘‘Trafficking Awareness 
Training for Health Care Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 
(a) GRANT
FOR DEVELOPMENT
OF BEST PRAC-
TICES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 
acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality and in consultation with the Admin-
istrator of the Health Resources and Services Administra-
tion, shall award, on a competitive basis, a grant to an 
eligible school under which such school will— 
(1) not later than 6 months after receipt of the 
award, develop best practices for health care profes-
sionals— 
(A) to recognize victims of a severe form of 
trafficking; and 
(B) to respond appropriately to such indi-
viduals; 
(2) in developing best practices under para-
graph (1), survey, analyze, and evaluate, in consulta-
tion with law enforcement personnel, social service 
providers, and other experts in the field of human 
trafficking, existing best practices that foster the 
practice of interprofessional collaboration, including 
those used by industries other than the health care 
industry, to determine the extent to which such ex-
isting best practices may be adapted for use as part 
of the best practices under paragraph (1); 
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(3) develop curricula, training modules, or ma-
terials to train health care professionals on the best 
practices developed under paragraph (1); 
(4) not later than 12 months after the receipt 
of the award, make a subgrant to one entity located 
near an established anti-human trafficking task 
force initiative in each of the 10 administrative re-
gions of the Department of Health and Human 
Services— 
(A) to design, implement, and evaluate a 
pilot program using the best practices developed 
under paragraph (1) and the curricula, training 
modules, or materials developed under para-
graph (3); 
(B) to conduct the pilot program at one or 
more eligible sites within the respective region, 
which may include an eligible site that is a 
school-based health center; and 
(C) to complete the implementation and 
evaluation of such pilot program within a period 
of 6 months; 
(5) not later than 24 months after the receipt 
of the award, analyze the results of the pilot pro-
grams conducted through subgrants under para-
graph (4), including analyzing— 
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(A) changes in the skills, knowledge, and 
attitude of health care professionals resulting 
from the implementation of the programs; 
(B) the number of victims of a severe form 
of trafficking who are recognized under the pro-
grams; 
(C) of those recognized, the number who 
received information or referrals for services of-
fered through the programs; and 
(D) of those who received such information 
or referrals— 
(i) the number who participated in 
followup services; and 
(ii) the type of followup services re-
ceived; 
(6) determine, using the results of the analysis 
under paragraph (5), the extent to which the best 
practices developed under paragraph (1) are evi-
dence-based; and 
(7) submit a comprehensive assessment of the 
pilot programs conducted through subgrants under 
paragraph (4) to the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, including an identification of— 
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(A) the best practices that are determined 
pursuant to paragraph (6) to be evidence-based; 
and 
(B) the best practices that are determined 
pursuant to such paragraph to require further 
review in order to determine whether they are 
evidence-based. 
(b) 
CONTENTS.—The 
best 
practices 
developed 
through the grant awarded under subsection (a)— 
(1) shall address— 
(A) risk factors and indicators to recognize 
victims of a severe form of trafficking; 
(B) application of Federal and State law, 
including reporting requirements, with respect 
to victims of a severe form of trafficking; 
(C) patient safety and security, including 
the requirements of HIPAA privacy and secu-
rity law as applied to victims of a severe form 
of trafficking; 
(D) the management of medical records of 
patients who are victims of a severe form of 
trafficking; 
(E) public and private social services avail-
able for rescue, food, clothing, and shelter refer-
rals; 
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(F) the hotlines for reporting human traf-
ficking maintained by the National Human 
Trafficking Resource Center and the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security; 
(G) validated assessment tools for the 
identification of victims of a severe form of 
trafficking; and 
(H) referral options and procedures for 
sharing information on human trafficking with 
a patient and making referrals for legal and so-
cial service assistance related to human traf-
ficking when indicated and appropriate; and 
(2) shall not address patient medical treatment. 
(c) DISSEMINATION.—Not later than 24 months after 
the award of a grant to a school under subsection (a), 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting 
through the Administrator of the Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality, shall— 
(1) post on the public website of the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services the best prac-
tices that are identified by the school under subpara-
graphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(7); and 
(2) disseminate to health care profession 
schools the best practices identified by the school 
under subsection (a)(7)(A) and evaluation results. 
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SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘eligible site’’ means a health cen-
ter that is receiving assistance under section 330, 
399Z–1, or 1001 of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 254b, 300). 
(2) The term ‘‘eligible school’’ means an accred-
ited school of medicine or nursing with experience in 
the study or treatment of victims of a severe form 
of trafficking. 
(3) The term ‘‘health care professional’’ means 
a person employed by a health care provider who 
provides to patients information (including informa-
tion not related to medical treatment), scheduling, 
services, or referrals. 
(4) The term ‘‘HIPAA privacy and security 
law’’ has the meaning given to such term in section 
3009 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
300jj–19). 
(5) The term ‘‘victim of a severe form of traf-
ficking’’ has the meaning given to such term in sec-
tion 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). 
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SEC. 4. NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-
TIONS. 
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 
by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 
carried out using amounts otherwise available for such 
purpose. 
Æ 
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