Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2014

Bill: 113-hr-5294
Sponsor: Rep. Roybal-Allard, Lucille [D-CA-40]
Introduced: 2014-07-30 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Accidents
Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Adoption and foster care
Advisory bodies
Air quality
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Allied health services
American Samoa
Assault and harassment offenses
California
Cancer
Cardiovascular and respiratory health
Child health
Child safety and welfare
Civil actions and liability
Commemorative events and holidays
Congressional oversight
Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Crime victims
Crimes against women
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Dental care
Department of Agriculture
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Labor
Department of the Treasury
Digestive and metabolic diseases
Disability and paralysis
Drug safety, medical device, and laboratory regulation
Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
Education programs funding
Educational technology and distance education
Elementary and secondary education
Employee benefits and pensions
Endangered and threatened species
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
Environmental health
Environmental regulatory procedures
Executive agency funding and structure
Family planning and birth control
Family services
Federal-Indian relations
Foreign language and bilingual programs
Forests, forestry, trees
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Government lending and loan guarantees
Government studies and investigations
Government trust funds
Guam
Gulf of Mexico
HIV/AIDS
Hawaii
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Health care costs and insurance
Health care coverage and access
Health care quality
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Health technology, devices, supplies
Hereditary and development disorders
Higher education
Immigrant health and welfare
Infectious and parasitic diseases
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine pollution
Marriage and family status
Marshall Islands
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical research
Medical tests and diagnostic methods
Medicare
Mental health
Micronesia
Minority education
Minority employment
Minority health
Musculoskeletal and skin diseases
Neurological disorders
Northern Mariana Islands
Nutrition and diet
Oceania
Oil and gas
Palau
Physical fitness and lifestyle
Poverty and welfare assistance
Prescription drugs
Racial and ethnic relations
Religion
Research administration and funding
Retail and wholesale trades
Rural conditions and development
Sex and reproductive health
Sex offenses
Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
Sexually transmitted diseases
Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations
Student aid and college costs
Teaching, teachers, curricula
Teenage pregnancy
U.S. territories and protectorates
Water quality
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2014-07-30
text: 
Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2014 - Amends the Public Health Service Act and the Social Security Act to expand the collection and analysis of data in programs of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
 
Sets forth provisions to improve cultural competence in federal health care programs and services, including by establishing the Robert T. Matsui Center for Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Health Care.
 
Requires the Secretary of HHS (Secretary) to engage in activities to improve health workforce diversity, including by: (1) establishing a working group and a technical clearinghouse; (2) awarding grants to academic institutions; (3) establishing a health and health care disparities education program; and (4) providing for scholarships, student loan repayment and loan forgiveness, and research fellowships.
 
Health Empowerment Zone Act of 2014 - Provides for the establishment of health empowerment zones in communities that experience disproportionate disparities in health status and health care.
 
Requires the Secretary to engage in activities to improve the quality of and access to health care, including by expanding access to health care and health care insurance for immigrants, designating centers of excellence at public hospitals and other health systems serving minority patients, increasing Medicaid payments to territories and to Native Hawaiian health centers, and providing for border health grants.
 
Sets forth programs to reduce health disparities affecting minorities and rural residents. Establishes an Office of Minority Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
 
Sets forth provisions to improve health for women and children, including by expanding access to federal programs for immigrant women and children, creating public awareness campaigns, engaging in activities to eliminate disparities in maternal health outcomes, and establishing programs to reduce teenage pregnancies, including contraception education and information programs, programs to support healthy adolescent development, maintaining a database of systematic reviews of maternity care, designating maternity care health professional shortage areas, and establishing a research center on optimal maternity outcomes.
 
Directs the Secretary to develop a multisite gestational diabetes research project within the diabetes program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
 
Requires pharmacies to provide in stock contraceptives to customers without delay.
 
Expands Medicare coverage of marriage and family therapist services, mental health counselor services, and substance abuse counselor services.
 
Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act of 2014 - 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 2020.
 
Prostate Research, Outreach, Screening, Testing, Access, and Treatment Effectiveness Act of 2014 or the PROSTATE Act - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to take action to address prostate cancer, including by establishing the Interagency Prostate Cancer Coordination and Education Task Force.
 
Viral Hepatitis and Liver Cancer Control and Prevention Act of 2014 - Requires the Secretary to implement programs to address hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
 
Bone Marrow Failure Disease Research and Treatment Act of 2014 - Requires the Director of CDC to establish the National Acquired Bone Marrow Failure Disease Registry.
 
Requires the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop guidelines to screen minority patient populations which have a higher than average risk for many chronic diseases and cancers. 
 
Expands Medicaid to cover a beneficiary's routine medical costs when they are in an approved clinical trial. 
 
Requires the Secretary to expand HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention activities, including: (1) identification of issues that impede disease status awareness and retention in appropriate care, (2) research into treatment adherence strategies, (3) grants to public health agencies and faith-based organizations, (4) the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, and (5) health workforce training for culturally competent care.
 
Directs the Secretary to award grants for comprehensive sex education programs for adolescents. Eliminates a program that supports abstinence education.
 
Permits community organizations to distribute sexual barrier protection devices (e.g., condoms) and to engage in sexually transmitted infection counseling and prevention education in federal correctional facilities.
 
Stop AIDS in Prison Act - Requires the Bureau of Prisons to develop a comprehensive policy to provide HIV testing, treatment, and prevention for inmates.
 
Requires the Secretary to conduct research and other activities with respect to diabetes in minority populations and the prevention of lung disease.
 
 
Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Disorders Health Disparities Act - Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand research addressing sleep health disparities. Requires the Director of CDC to expand activities regarding sleep disorders.
 
Sets forth provisions regarding the use of health information technology to reduce health disparities, particularly in racial and ethnic minority communities.
 
Prohibits discrimination in federal health care programs or research activities.
 
Requires the Secretary to establish the Office of Health Disparities in the Office for Civil Rights and to establish civil rights compliance offices in each HHS agency that administers health programs.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish a program at the National Center for Environmental Health on health impact assessment (the process of determining the potential effects of a policy, program, or project on health). 

Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the type and scope of health care services provided to racial and ethnic minorities affected by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling unit on April 20, 2010.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-11-17
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.
action_date: 2014-09-22
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, and Nutrition.
action_date: 2014-08-15
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2014-08-11
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation.
action_date: 2014-08-11
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
action_date: 2014-08-11
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs.
action_date: 2014-08-11
text: Referred to the Subcommittee Indian and Alaska Native Affairs.
action_date: 2014-08-01
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Agriculture, Education and the Workforce, the Budget, Veterans' Affairs, Armed Services, the Judiciary, and Natural 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: 2014-07-30
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H7049)
action_date: 2014-07-30
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2014-07-30
text: Introduced in House