I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3014 
To improve the health of minority individuals, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 12, 2007 
Ms. SOLIS (for herself, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BACA, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. 
BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 
Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARDOZA, Ms. CARSON, Ms. CASTOR, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, 
Mr. CONYERS, Mr. COSTA, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. CUMMINGS, 
Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Ms. 
LEE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. MATSUI, 
Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. MOORE of Wis-
consin, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. 
PAYNE, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. REYES, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Ms. ROS- 
LEHTINEN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. 
FORTUN˜O, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GENE GREEN 
of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. 
HONDA, Mr. HOYER, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT 
of Virginia, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SIRES, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. 
TOWNS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WATERS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WATT, and 
Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Natural Resources, and the Ju-
diciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To improve the health of minority individuals, and for other 
purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Health Equity and 
Accountability Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
TITLE I—CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY APPROPRIATE 
HEALTH CARE 
Sec. 101. Amendment to the Public Health Service Act. 
Sec. 102. Standards for language access services. 
Sec. 103. Federal reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate 
services under the Medicare, Medicaid and State Children’s 
Health Insurance Program. 
Sec. 104. Increasing understanding of and improving health literacy. 
Sec. 105. Report on Federal efforts to provide culturally and linguistically ap-
propriate health care services. 
Sec. 106. Definitions. 
Sec. 107. Treatment of the Medicare part B program under title VI of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964. 
TITLE II—HEALTH WORKFORCE DIVERSITY 
Sec. 201. Amendment to the Public Health Service Act. 
Sec. 202. Health Careers Opportunity Program. 
Sec. 203. Program of Excellence in Health Professions Education for Under-
represented Minorities. 
Sec. 204. Minority-Serving Institutions and Hispanic-serving health professions 
schools. 
Sec. 205. Health Professions Student Loan fund; authorizations of appropria-
tions regarding students from underrepresented minority com-
munities. 
Sec. 206. National Health Service Corps; training programs. 
Sec. 207. Loan Repayment Program of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention. 
Sec. 208. Strengthening and expanding rural health provider networks. 
Sec. 209. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement program. 
Sec. 210. Ensuring proportional representation of interests of rural areas on 
MedPAC. 
TITLE III—DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING 
Sec. 301. Amendment to the Public Health Service Act. 
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Sec. 302. Collection of race and ethnicity data by the Social Security Adminis-
tration. 
Sec. 303. Revision of HIPAA claims standards. 
Sec. 304. National Center for Health Statistics. 
Sec. 305. Geo-access study. 
Sec. 306. Racial, ethnic, and linguistic data collected by the Federal Govern-
ment. 
Sec. 307. Health information technology grants. 
Sec. 308. Study of health information technology in medically underserved com-
munities. 
Sec. 309. Health information technology in medically underserved communities. 
Sec. 310. Data collection and analysis grants to minority-serving institutions. 
Sec. 311. Health information technology grants for rural health care providers. 
TITLE IV—ACCOUNTABILITY AND EVALUATION 
Subtitle A—General Provisions 
Sec. 401. Federal agency plan to eliminate disparities and improve the health 
of minority populations. 
Sec. 402. Accountability within the Department of Health and Human Services. 
Sec. 403. Office of Minority Health. 
Sec. 404. Establishment of the Indian Health Service as an agency of the Pub-
lic Health Service. 
Sec. 405. Establishment of individual offices of minority health within agencies 
of the Public Health Service. 
Sec. 406. Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
Services. 
Sec. 407. Office of Minority Affairs at the Food and Drug Administration. 
Sec. 408. Safety and effectiveness of drugs with respect to racial and ethnic 
background. 
Sec. 409. United States Commission on Civil Rights. 
Sec. 410. Sense of Congress concerning full funding of activities to eliminate 
racial and ethnic health disparities. 
Sec. 411. Guidelines for disease screening for minority patients. 
Sec. 412. National center for minority health and health disparities reauthor-
ization. 
Subtitle B—Improving Environmental Justice 
Sec. 421. Codification of executive order 12898. 
Sec. 422. Implementation of recommendations by environmental protection 
agency. 
Sec. 423. Grant program. 
Sec. 424. Additional research on the relationship between the built environment 
and the health of community residents. 
TITLE V—IMPROVEMENT OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES 
Sec. 501. Health empowerment zones. 
Sec. 502. Amendment to the Public Health Service Act. 
Sec. 503. Optional coverage of legal immigrants under the Medicaid program 
and SCHIP. 
Sec. 504. Border health grants. 
Sec. 505. Cancer prevention and treatment demonstration for ethnic and racial 
minorities. 
Sec. 506. Grants to promote positive health behaviors in women and children. 
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Sec. 507. Exception for citizens of freely associated States. 
Sec. 508. Medicare graduate medical education. 
Sec. 509. HIV/AIDS reduction in racial and ethnic minority communities. 
Sec. 510. Grants for racial and ethnic approaches to community health. 
Sec. 511. Critical access hospital improvements. 
Sec. 512. Coverage of marriage and family therapist services and mental health 
counselor services under part B of the Medicare program. 
Sec. 513. Establishment of rural community hospital (RCH) program. 
Sec. 514. Medicare remote monitoring pilot projects. 
Sec. 515. Rural health quality advisory commission and demonstration projects. 
Sec. 516. Rural health care services. 
Sec. 517. Community health center collaborative access expansion. 
Sec. 518. Facilitating the provision of telehealth services across State lines. 
TITLE I—CULTURALLY AND LIN-
GUISTICALLY 
APPROPRIATE 
HEALTH CARE 
SEC. 101. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 
ACT. 
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘TITLE XXX—CULTURALLY AND 
LINGUISTICALLY 
APPRO-
PRIATE HEALTH CARE 
‘‘SEC. 3000. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this title: 
‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE HEALTH CARE SERVICES.— 
The term ‘appropriate health care services’ includes 
services or treatments to address prevention and 
care of physical, mental, oral, and behavioral dis-
orders or syndromes. 
‘‘(2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 
means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other orga-
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nized group or community, including any Alaska Na-
tive village or group or regional or village corpora-
tion as defined in or established pursuant to the 
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) 
(43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), which is recognized as eli-
gible for the special programs and services provided 
by the United States to Indians because of their sta-
tus as Indians. 
‘‘(3) LIMITED
ENGLISH
PROFICIENT.—The 
term ‘limited English proficient’ with respect to an 
individual means an individual who speaks a primary 
language other than English and cannot speak, read, 
write, or understand the English language at a level 
that permits them to effectively communicate with 
clinical or nonclinical staff at a health care organiza-
tion. 
‘‘(4) MINORITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘minority’ 
and ‘minorities’ refer to individuals from a mi-
nority group. 
‘‘(B) POPULATIONS.—The term ‘minority’, 
with respect to populations, refers to racial and 
ethnic minority groups. 
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‘‘(5) MINORITY
GROUP.—The term ‘minority 
group’ has the meaning given the term ‘racial and 
ethnic minority group’. 
‘‘(6) RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY GROUP.— 
The term ‘racial and ethnic minority group’ means 
American Indians and Alaska Natives, African 
Americans (including Caribbean Blacks, Africans 
and other Blacks), Asian Americans, Hispanics (in-
cluding Latinos), and Native Hawaiians and other 
Pacific Islanders. 
‘‘(7) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 
the several states, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Indian tribes, 
the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
‘‘SEC. 3001. IMPROVING ACCESS TO SERVICES FOR INDIVID-
UALS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—As provided in Executive Order 
13166, it is the purpose of this section— 
‘‘(1) to improve access to federally conducted 
and federally assisted programs and activities for in-
dividuals who are limited in their English pro-
ficiency; 
‘‘(2) to require each Federal agency to examine 
the services it provides and develop and implement 
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a system by which limited English proficient individ-
uals can obtain meaningful access to those services 
consistent with, and without substantially burdening, 
the fundamental mission of the agency; 
‘‘(3) to require each Federal agency to ensure 
that recipients of Federal financial assistance pro-
vide meaningful access to their limited English pro-
ficient applicants and beneficiaries; 
‘‘(4) to ensure that recipients of Federal finan-
cial assistance take reasonable steps, consistent with 
the guidelines set forth in the Limited English Pro-
ficient Guidance of the Department of Justice (as 
issued on June 12, 2002), to ensure meaningful ac-
cess to their programs and activities by limited 
English proficient individuals; and 
‘‘(5) to ensure compliance with title VI of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and that health care pro-
viders and organizations do not discriminate in the 
provision of services. 
‘‘(b) FEDERALLY CONDUCTED PROGRAMS AND AC-
TIVITIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 
after the date of enactment of this title, each Fed-
eral agency that carries out health care-related ac-
tivities shall prepare a plan to improve access to the 
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federally conducted health care-related programs 
and activities of the agency by limited English pro-
ficient individuals. 
‘‘(2) PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Each plan under 
paragraph (1) shall be consistent with the standards 
set forth in section 102 of the Health Equity and 
Accountability Act of 2007, and shall include the 
steps the agency will take to ensure that limited 
English proficient individuals have access to the 
agency’s health care-related programs and activities. 
Each agency shall send a copy of such plan to the 
Department of Justice, which shall serve as the cen-
tral repository of the agencies’ plans. 
‘‘(c) FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS AND ACTIVI-
TIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 
after the date of enactment of this title, each Fed-
eral agency providing health care-related Federal fi-
nancial assistance shall ensure that the guidance for 
recipients of Federal financial assistance developed 
by the agency to ensure compliance with title VI of 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et 
seq.) is specifically tailored to the recipients of such 
assistance and is consistent with the standards de-
scribed in section 102 of the Health Equity and Ac-
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countability Act of 2007. Each agency shall send a 
copy of such guidance to the Department of Justice 
which shall serve as the central repository of the 
agencies’ plans. After approval by the Department of 
Justice, each agency shall publish its guidance docu-
ment in the Federal Register for public comment. 
‘‘(2) 
REQUIREMENTS.—The 
agency-specific 
guidance developed under paragraph (1) shall— 
‘‘(A) detail how the general standards es-
tablished under section 102 of the Health Eq-
uity and Accountability Act of 2007 will be ap-
plied to the agency’s recipients; and 
‘‘(B) take into account the types of health 
care services provided by the recipients, the in-
dividuals served by the recipients, and other 
factors set out in such standards. 
‘‘(3) EXISTING GUIDANCES.—A Federal agency 
that has developed a guidance for purposes of title 
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that the Depart-
ment of Justice determines is consistent with the 
standards described in section 102 of the Health Eq-
uity and Accountability Act of 2007 shall examine 
such existing guidance, as well as the programs and 
activities to which such guidance applies, to deter-
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mine if modification of such guidance is necessary to 
comply with this subsection. 
‘‘(4) CONSULTATION.—Each Federal agency 
shall consult with the Department of Justice in es-
tablishing the guidances under this subsection. 
‘‘(d) CONSULTATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this sec-
tion, each Federal agency that carriers out health 
care-related activities shall ensure that stakeholders, 
such as limited English proficient individuals and 
their representative organizations, recipients of Fed-
eral assistance, and other appropriate individuals or 
entities, have an adequate and comparable oppor-
tunity to provide input with respect to the actions of 
the agency. 
‘‘(2) EVALUATION.—Each Federal agency de-
scribed in paragraph (1) shall evaluate the— 
‘‘(A) particular needs of the limited 
English proficient individuals served by the 
agency, and by a recipient of assistance pro-
vided by the agency; 
‘‘(B) burdens of compliance with the agen-
cy guidance and its recipients of the require-
ments of this section; and 
‘‘(C) outcomes or effectiveness of services. 
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