H. R. 1812 
One Hundred Ninth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE FIRST SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday, 
the fourth day of January, two thousand and five 
An Act 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a demonstration grant program 
to provide patient navigator services to reduce barriers and improve health care 
outcomes, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Patient Navigator Outreach 
and Chronic Disease Prevention Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. PATIENT NAVIGATOR GRANTS. 
Subpart V of part D of title III of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 256) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 340A. PATIENT NAVIGATOR GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through the Administrator 
of the Health Resources and Services Administration, may make 
grants to eligible entities for the development and operation of 
demonstration programs to provide patient navigator services to 
improve health care outcomes. The Secretary shall coordinate with, 
and ensure the participation of, the Indian Health Service, the 
National Cancer Institute, the Office of Rural Health Policy, and 
such other offices and agencies as deemed appropriate by the Sec-
retary, regarding the design and evaluation of the demonstration 
programs. 
‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall require each recipient 
of a grant under this section to use the grant to recruit, assign, 
train, and employ patient navigators who have direct knowledge 
of the communities they serve to facilitate the care of individuals, 
including by performing each of the following duties: 
‘‘(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 serv-
ices for, or who following a screening or early detection service 
are found to have a symptom, abnormal finding, or diagnosis 
of, cancer or other chronic disease. 
‘‘(2) Facilitating the involvement of community organiza-
tions in assisting individuals who are at risk for or who have 
cancer or other chronic diseases to receive better access to 
high-quality health care services (such as by creating partner-
ships with patient advocacy groups, charities, health care cen-
ters, community hospice centers, other health care providers, 
or other organizations in the targeted community). 
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H. R. 1812—2 
‘‘(3) Notifying individuals of clinical trials and, on request, 
facilitating enrollment of eligible individuals in these trials. 
‘‘(4) Anticipating, identifying, and helping patients to over-
come barriers within the health care system to ensure prompt 
diagnostic and treatment resolution of an abnormal finding 
of cancer or other chronic disease. 
‘‘(5) Coordinating with the relevant health insurance 
ombudsman programs to provide information to individuals 
who are at risk for or who have cancer or other chronic diseases 
about health coverage, including private insurance, health care 
savings accounts, and other publicly funded programs (such 
as Medicare, Medicaid, health programs operated by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense, 
the State children’s health insurance program, and any private 
or governmental prescription assistance programs). 
‘‘(6) Conducting ongoing outreach to health disparity popu-
lations, including the uninsured, rural populations, and other 
medically underserved populations, in addition to assisting 
other individuals who are at risk for or who have cancer or 
other chronic diseases to seek preventative care. 
‘‘(c) PROHIBITIONS.— 
‘‘(1) REFERRAL
FEES.—The Secretary shall require each 
recipient of a grant under this section to prohibit any patient 
navigator 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 shall prohibit 
the use of any grant funds received under this section to pay 
any fees or costs resulting from any litigation, arbitration, 
mediation, or other proceeding to resolve a legal dispute. 
‘‘(d) GRANT PERIOD.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the 
Secretary may award grants under this section for periods 
of not more than 3 years. 
‘‘(2) EXTENSIONS.—Subject to paragraph (3), the Secretary 
may extend the period of a grant under this section. Each 
such extension shall be for a period of not more than 1 year. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON GRANT PERIOD.—In carrying out this 
section, the Secretary— 
‘‘(A) shall ensure that the total period of a grant does 
not exceed 4 years; and 
‘‘(B) may not authorize any grant period ending after 
September 30, 2010. 
‘‘(e) APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To seek a grant under this section, an 
eligible entity shall submit an application to the Secretary 
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 eligible entity will 
establish baseline measures and benchmarks that meet the 
Secretary’s requirements to evaluate program outcomes. 
‘‘(f) UNIFORM BASELINE MEASURES.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish uniform baseline measures in order to properly evaluate the 
impact of the demonstration projects under this section. 
‘‘(g) PREFERENCE.—In making grants under this section, the 
Secretary shall give preference to eligible entities that demonstrate 
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