Health Equity and Justice Act of 2006

Bill: 109-hr-6275
Sponsor: Del. Christensen, Donna M. [D-VI-At Large]
Introduced: 2006-09-29 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Black colleges
Cancer
Chronically ill
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Communication in medicine
Congress
Congressional investigations
Data banks
Department of Health and Human Services
Discrimination in medical care
Drug approvals
Drugs
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Environmental Protection
Environmental health
Environmental justice
Environmental research
Executive reorganization
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to research
Finance and Financial Sector
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Health education
Health information systems
Health insurance
Higher education
Hispanic Americans
Housing and Community Development
Indian education
Labor and Employment
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical personnel
Medical research
Medical screening
Medical statistics
Medical tests
Medically uninsured
Medicare
Mentoring
Minorities
Minorities in medicine
Minority education
Minority employment
Minority health
Native Americans
Patient satisfaction
Patients' rights
Pharmaceutical research
Poor children
Quality of care
Rural health
Scholarships
Science, Technology, Communications
Scientists
Secondary education
Social Welfare
Student loan funds
Translating and interpreting
World health

Summary:
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: 
Health Equity and Justice Act of 2006 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide for: (1) establishment of the Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Healthcare; (2) programs to improve language access to health care for individuals with limited English proficiency; and (3) programs to improve health care for patient populations that have low functional health literacy.
 
Provides for the establishment of: (1) a national working group on workforce diversity; (2) a technical clearinghouse on health workforce diversity; (3) a health and healthcare disparities education program; and (4) an Advisory Committee on Health Professions Training for Diversity.
 
Requires federal health-related programs to: (1) require the collection of data on the race, ethnicity, and primary language of each applicant for and recipient of health-related assistance; and (2) analyze such data to detect racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care.
 
Renames the Office of Minority Health as the Office of Minority Health Disparity Elimination.
 
Requires the Indian Health Service (IHS) to be administered by an Assistant Secretary of Indian Health (in place of the Director of IHS), who shall report directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
 
Requires four specified federal agencies to each establish an Office of Minority Health and Racial, Ethnic, and Primary Language Health Disparities Elimination. Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) an Office of Minority Health within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and (2) an Office of Minority Affairs within the Office of the Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
 
Establishes the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice and the Federal Environmental Justice Advisory Committee.
 
Provides for grants to establish health empowerment zone programs in communities that disproportionately experience disparities in health status and health care.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-11-02
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations.
action_date: 2006-10-12
text: Executive Comment Requested from HHS.
action_date: 2006-10-02
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2006-09-29
text: Introduced in House