SEC. 2. PATIENT ASSISTANCE GRANTS DEMONSTRATION 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall establish a demonstration program 
under which the Secretary may make grants to State, local 
and tribal entities, and public or private non-profit organi-
zations for the development and operation of programs to 
provide services for patients to resolve health insurance, 
job retention, and debt crisis matters related to the pa-
tients’ diagnosis and illness, including services described 
in subsection (b) to improve health care outcomes. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 
this section shall use the grant for the purposes of recruit-
ing, assigning, training, and employing patient health ad-
vocates (as defined in subsection (m)(2)) who have direct 
knowledge of the communities they serve to facilitate the 
care of individuals, including by performing each of the 
following services (and by ensuring that such services are 
available to such communities): 
(1) Acting as contacts, including by assisting in 
the coordination of health care services and provider 
referrals, for individuals who are seeking prevention 
or early detection services for, or who following a 
screening or early detection service are found to 
have a symptom, abnormal finding, or diagnosis of, 
an adverse health condition. 
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(2) Facilitating the involvement of community 
organizations in assisting individuals who are at risk 
for or who have an adverse health condition to re-
ceive better access to high-quality health care serv-
ices (such as by creating partnerships with patient 
advocacy groups, charities, health care centers, com-
munity hospice centers, other health care providers, 
or other organizations in the targeted community). 
(3) Notifying individuals of clinical trials and, 
on request, facilitating enrollment of eligible individ-
uals in these trials. 
(4) Anticipating, identifying, and helping indi-
viduals to overcome barriers within the health care 
system to ensure prompt diagnosis and treatment. 
(5) Coordinating with the relevant health insur-
ance ombudsman programs to provide information to 
individuals about health coverage, including private 
insurance, health care savings accounts, and other 
publicly funded programs (such as the Medicare, the 
Medicaid, and State children’s health insurance pro-
grams under titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the So-
cial Security Act, respectively, health programs oper-
ated by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the 
Department of Defense, and any private or govern-
mental prescription assistance programs). 
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(6) Conducting ongoing outreach to health dis-
parity populations, including the uninsured, rural 
populations, and other medically underserved popu-
lations, in addition to assisting other individuals to 
seek preventive care. 
A recipient of a grant under subsection (a) may use such 
grant for operational costs of any activity carried out by 
such entity for the purposes described in the previous sen-
tence. 
(c) PROHIBITIONS.— 
(1) REFERRAL FEES.—The Secretary of Health 
and Human Services shall require each recipient of 
a grant under this section to prohibit any patient 
health advocate providing services under the grant 
from accepting any referral fee, kickback, or other 
thing of value in return for referring an individual 
to a particular health care provider. 
(2) LEGAL FEES AND COSTS.—The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall prohibit the use of 
any grant funds received under this section to pay 
any fees or costs resulting from any litigation, arbi-
tration, mediation, or other proceeding to resolve a 
legal dispute. 
(d) GRANT PERIOD.— 
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(1) INITIAL GRANT PERIOD AND PERMISSIBLE 
EXTENSIONS.—Subject to paragraph (2), the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services— 
(A) may award grants under this section 
for initial periods of not more than 3 years; and 
(B) may extend the period of a grant 
under this section so long as each such exten-
sion is for a period of not more than 1 year. 
(2) LIMITATION.—In no case may the Secretary 
award an initial grant or extend the period of a 
grant under this section for a period ending after 
the date that is 5 years after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
(e) APPLICATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—To seek a grant under this 
section, an entity or organization described in sub-
section (a) shall submit an application to the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services in such form, 
in such manner, and containing such information as 
the Secretary may require. 
(2) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, the Secretary 
shall require each such application to outline how 
the entity or organization involved will establish 
baseline measures and benchmarks that meet the 
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Secretary’s requirements to evaluate program out-
comes. 
(f) UNIFORM BASELINE MEASURES.—The Secretary 
of Health and Human Services shall establish uniform 
baseline measures in order to properly evaluate the impact 
of the programs funded under this section. 
(g) PREFERENCE.—In making grants under this sec-
tion, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
give preference to eligible entities that demonstrate in 
their applications plans to utilize services described in sub-
section (b) to overcome significant barriers in order to im-
prove health care outcomes in their respective commu-
nities. 
(h) DUPLICATION OF SERVICES.—An entity or orga-
nization that is receiving Federal funds for services de-
scribed in subsection (b) on the date on which the entity 
or organization, respectively, submits an application under 
subsection (e) may not receive a grant under this section 
unless the entity or organization, respectively, can dem-
onstrate that amounts received under the grant will be uti-
lized to expand services or provide new services to individ-
uals who would not otherwise be served. 
(i) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS.—The 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall ensure co-
ordination of the demonstration program under this sec-
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