Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2009

Bill: 111-hr-3090
Sponsor: Del. Christensen, Donna M. [D-VI-At Large]
Introduced: 2009-06-26 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Advisory bodies
American Samoa
Arizona
Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
California
Cancer
Cardiovascular and respiratory health
Caribbean area
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Child health
Computers and information technology
Department of Health and Human Services
Digestive and metabolic diseases
Disability and health-based discrimination
Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
Education programs funding
Environmental health
Executive agency funding and structure
Federal-Indian relations
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Foreign language and bilingual programs
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Guam
HIV/AIDS
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Health technology, devices, supplies
Home and outpatient care
Hospital care
Marriage and family status
Marshall Islands
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical research
Medical tests and diagnostic methods
Medicare
Mental health
Micronesia
Military medicine
Minority education
Minority health
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
New Mexico
Northern Mariana Islands
Nutrition and diet
Oceania
Palau
Puerto Rico
Racial and ethnic relations
Research administration and funding
Rural conditions and development
Sex and reproductive health
Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
Student aid and college costs
Texas
U.S. territories and protectorates
Veterans' medical care
Virgin Islands
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: 
Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to establish the Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Health Care.
 
Provides for health care workforce diversity activities, including the establishment of: (1) a national working group on workforce diversity; (2) an aggregated database on health professional students; and (3) the Advisory Committee on Health Professions Training for Diversity.
 
Requires health-related programs of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to collect data on race, ethnicity, primary language, and sexual orientation.
 
Directs each federal health agency to implement a strategic plan to eliminate disparities on the basis of race, ethnicity, and primary language and improve the health and health care of minority populations.
 
Prohibits discrimination under any health care service or research program or activity receiving federal financial assistance on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status.
 
Requires the establishment of: (1) an Office of Health Disparities within the Office of Civil Rights; (2) civil rights compliance offices in HHS agencies that administer health programs; and (3) an Office of Minority Health within specified agencies.
 
Reestablishes the Indian Health Service within the Public Health Service of HHS to be administered by the Assistant Secretary of Indian Health.
 
Directs the President to execute, administer, and enforce provisions to address environmental justice in minority and low-income populations. 
 
Health Empowerment Zone Act of 2009 - Provides for the establishment of health empowerment zones in communities that experience disproportionate disparities in health status and health care.
 
Sets forth programs to reduce health disparities, including by: (1) expanding the Minority HIV/AIDS initiative; (2) establishing the Rural Health Quality Advisory Commission; and (3) revising eligibility requirements for federal assistance programs with respect to individuals lawfully present in the United States.
 
Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act of 2009 - Requires the Secretary to implement the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Program to achieve a reduction of at least 25% in the mortality rate of lung cancer by 2015.
 
Provides for research and other activities with respect to diabetes in minority populations. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-06-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Rural Development, Biotechnology, Specialty Crops, and Foreign Agriculture.
action_date: 2009-08-19
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
action_date: 2009-08-03
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
action_date: 2009-07-07
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Agriculture
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Veterans' Affairs
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Armed Services
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Natural Resources
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Judiciary
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Education and Labor
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Ways and Means
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, the Judiciary, Natural Resources, Armed Services, Veterans' Affairs, and Agriculture, 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: 2009-06-26
text: Referred to House Energy and Commerce
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2009-06-26
text: Introduced in House