SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safety of Seniors Act 
of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 
ACT. 
Part J of title III of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 280b et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 393B (as added by 
section 1401 of Public Law 106–386) as section 393C 
and transferring such section so that it appears after 
section 393B (as added by section 1301 of Public Law 
106–310); and 
(2) by inserting after section 393C (as redesig-
nated by paragraph (1)) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 393D. PREVENTION OF FALLS AMONG OLDER ADULTS. 
‘‘(a) PUBLIC EDUCATION.—The Secretary may— 
‘‘(1) oversee and support a national education 
campaign to be carried out by a nonprofit organiza-
tion with experience in designing and implementing 
national injury prevention programs, that is directed 
principally to older adults, their families, and health 
care providers, and that focuses on reducing falls 
among older adults and preventing repeat falls; and 
‘‘(2) award grants, contracts, or cooperative 
agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, or 
consortia of qualified organizations and institutions, 
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specializing, or demonstrating expertise, in falls or 
fall prevention, for the purpose of organizing State- 
level coalitions of appropriate State and local agen-
cies, safety, health, senior citizen, and other organiza-
tions to design and carry out local education cam-
paigns, focusing on reducing falls among older adults 
and preventing repeat falls. 
‘‘(b) RESEARCH.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may— 
‘‘(A) conduct and support research to— 
‘‘(i) improve the identification of older 
adults who have a high risk of falling; 
‘‘(ii) improve data collection and anal-
ysis to identify fall risk and protective fac-
tors; 
‘‘(iii) design, implement, and evaluate 
the most effective fall prevention interven-
tions; 
‘‘(iv) improve strategies that are prov-
en to be effective in reducing falls by tai-
loring these strategies to specific popu-
lations of older adults; 
‘‘(v) conduct research in order to maxi-
mize the dissemination of proven, effective 
fall prevention interventions; 
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‘‘(vi) intensify proven interventions to 
prevent falls among older adults; 
‘‘(vii) improve the diagnosis, treat-
ment, and rehabilitation of elderly fall vic-
tims and older adults at high risk for falls; 
and 
‘‘(viii) assess the risk of falls occurring 
in various settings; 
‘‘(B) conduct research concerning barriers 
to the adoption of proven interventions with re-
spect to the prevention of falls among older 
adults; 
‘‘(C) conduct research to develop, imple-
ment, and evaluate the most effective approaches 
to reducing falls among high-risk older adults 
living in communities and long-term care and 
assisted living facilities; and 
‘‘(D) evaluate the effectiveness of community 
programs designed to prevent falls among older 
adults. 
‘‘(2) EDUCATIONAL
SUPPORT.—The Secretary, 
either directly or through awarding grants, contracts, 
or cooperative agreements to qualified organizations, 
institutions, or consortia of qualified organizations 
and institutions, specializing, or demonstrating ex-
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pertise, in falls or fall prevention, may provide pro-
fessional education for physicians and allied health 
professionals, and aging service providers in fall pre-
vention, evaluation, and management. 
‘‘(c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.—The Secretary may 
carry out the following: 
‘‘(1) Oversee and support demonstration and re-
search projects to be carried out by qualified organi-
zations, institutions, or consortia of qualified organi-
zations and institutions, specializing, or dem-
onstrating expertise, in falls or fall prevention, in the 
following areas: 
‘‘(A) A multistate demonstration project as-
sessing the utility of targeted fall risk screening 
and referral programs. 
‘‘(B) Programs designed for community- 
dwelling older adults that utilize multicompo-
nent fall intervention approaches, including 
physical activity, medication assessment and re-
duction when possible, vision enhancement, and 
home modification strategies. 
‘‘(C) Programs that are targeted to new fall 
victims who are at a high risk for second falls 
and which are designed to maximize independ-
ence and quality of life for older adults, particu-
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larly those older adults with functional limita-
tions. 
‘‘(D) Private sector and public-private part-
nerships to develop technologies to prevent falls 
among older adults and prevent or reduce inju-
ries if falls occur. 
‘‘(2)(A) Award grants, contracts, or cooperative 
agreements to qualified organizations, institutions, or 
consortia of qualified organizations and institutions, 
specializing, or demonstrating expertise, in falls or 
fall prevention, to design, implement, and evaluate 
fall prevention programs using proven intervention 
strategies in residential and institutional settings. 
‘‘(B) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or coop-
erative agreements to 1 or more qualified organiza-
tions, institutions, or consortia of qualified organiza-
tions and institutions, specializing, or demonstrating 
expertise, in falls or fall prevention, in order to carry 
out a multistate demonstration project to implement 
and evaluate fall prevention programs using proven 
intervention strategies designed for single and multi-
family residential settings with high concentrations of 
older adults, including— 
‘‘(i) identifying high-risk populations; 
‘‘(ii) evaluating residential facilities; 
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‘‘(iii) conducting screening to identify high- 
risk individuals; 
‘‘(iv) providing fall assessment and risk re-
duction interventions and counseling; 
‘‘(v) coordinating services with health care 
and social service providers; and 
‘‘(vi) coordinating post-fall treatment and 
rehabilitation. 
‘‘(3) Award 1 or more grants, contracts, or coop-
erative agreements to qualified organizations, institu-
tions, or consortia of qualified organizations and in-
stitutions, specializing, or demonstrating expertise, in 
falls or fall prevention, to conduct evaluations of the 
effectiveness of the demonstration projects described in 
this subsection. 
‘‘(d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants, contracts, or co-
operative agreements under this section, the Secretary may 
give priority to entities that explore the use of cost-sharing 
with respect to activities funded under the grant, contract, 
or agreement to ensure the institutional commitment of the 
recipients of such assistance to the projects funded under 
the grant, contract, or agreement. Such non-Federal cost 
sharing contributions may be provided directly or through 
donations from public or private entities and may be in 
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Union Calendar No. 351 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3701 
[Report No. 110–569] 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
intensify programs with respect to research and 
related activities concerning falls among older 
adults. 
APRIL 8, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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