CARE for Families Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2555 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to establish a grant program to provide grants to local agencies and clinics to improve the health of mothers and infants, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 15, 2021 Ms. ADAMS (for herself and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to establish a grant program to provide grants to local agencies and clinics to improve the health of mothers and infants, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Access, 4 Resources, and Education for Families Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘CARE for Families Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2555 IH SEC. 2. FUNDS FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIP 1 OUTREACH. 2 Section 17(h) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 3 U.S.C. 1786(h)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(15) COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS 6 GRANTS.— 7 ‘‘(A) PROGRAM ESTABLISHED.—Not later 8 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 9 this paragraph, the Secretary shall carry out a 10 grant program to make grants to local agencies 11 and clinics to carry out the activities described 12 in subparagraph (B). 13 ‘‘(B) GRANT PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—A 14 local agency or clinic that receives a grant 15 under this paragraph shall use the grant funds 16 to carry out activities to enhance collaboration 17 between— 18 ‘‘(i) local agencies, clinics, and com- 19 munity health partners, including other 20 health care providers, social services pro- 21 grams, and early childhood learning and 22 care providers, for the purposes of— 23 ‘‘(I) establishing linkages be- 24 tween such entities, such as through 25 participation in community coalitions; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2555 IH ‘‘(II) facilitating referrals be- 1 tween such entities; 2 ‘‘(III) implementing evidence- 3 based strategies to— 4 ‘‘(aa) improve the health of 5 communities; 6 ‘‘(bb) conduct outreach to 7 potential program participants; 8 and 9 ‘‘(cc) promote breastfeeding 10 and access to healthy foods; and 11 ‘‘(IV) increasing awareness 12 among such entities and program par- 13 ticipants (including potential program 14 participants) of the eligibility require- 15 ments for, and health benefits of, the 16 program; and 17 ‘‘(ii) local agencies, clinics, and health 18 care entities for the purposes of— 19 ‘‘(I) facilitating and improving 20 access to comprehensive prenatal, 21 postnatal, and postpartum care for 22 program participants; 23 ‘‘(II) facilitating certification of 24 eligibility of persons for participation 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2555 IH in the program and provision of pro- 1 gram benefits at the hospital bedside 2 for eligible postpartum women and in- 3 fants; 4 ‘‘(III) improving the coordina- 5 tion, quality, and cost effectiveness of 6 health care services; and 7 ‘‘(IV) ensuring consistent nutri- 8 tion education and breastfeeding mes- 9 sages are provided to program partici- 10 pants. 11 ‘‘(C) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to re- 12 ceive a grant under this paragraph, a local 13 agency or clinic shall submit an application to 14 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 15 and containing such information as the Sec- 16 retary may require. 17 ‘‘(D) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 18 TIONS.— 19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—From amounts 20 appropriated under subsection (g), 21 $15,000,000 may be made available to 22 carry out this paragraph for each of fiscal 23 years 2020 through 2025. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2555 IH ‘‘(ii) ADJUSTMENT.—The amount 1 specified in clause (i) shall be adjusted an- 2 nually for inflation by the same factor used 3 to determine the national average per par- 4 ticipant grant for nutrition services and 5 administration for the fiscal year under 6 paragraph (1)(B). 7 ‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 8 ‘‘(i) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 9 means the special supplemental nutrition 10 program under this section. 11 ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The 12 term ‘program participant’ means a partic- 13 ipant in the program. 14 ‘‘(iii) HEALTH CARE ENTITIES.—The 15 term ‘health care entities’ includes pedia- 16 tricians, obstetricians-gynecologists, family 17 physicians, advance practice nurses, nurse 18 midwives, community health centers, 19 health departments, hospitals, facilities 20 funded by the Indian Health Service and 21 rural health clinics. 22 ‘‘(16) INITIATIVE FOR COORDINATING HEALTH 23 INFORMATION EXCHANGE.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2555 IH ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 1 days after the date of the enactment of this 2 paragraph, the Secretary shall establish an ini- 3 tiative to improve communication between State 4 agencies and local agencies and medical pro- 5 viders with respect to program participant 6 health information related to services provided 7 under the program. 8 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out 9 the initiative established under subparagraph 10 (A), the Secretary— 11 ‘‘(i) may only disclose program partic- 12 ipant health information if the disclosure 13 of such information is permitted under the 14 Federal regulations (concerning the privacy 15 of individually identifiable health informa- 16 tion) promulgated under section 26(c) of 17 the Health Insurance Portability and Ac- 18 countability Act of 1996; and 19 ‘‘(ii) shall— 20 ‘‘(I) consult with the Director of 21 the Office for Civil Rights of the 22 Health and Human Services Depart- 23 ment, the National Coordinator for 24 Health Information Technology, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2555 IH Administrator for the Health Re- 1 sources and Services Administration, 2 the Administrator of the Centers for 3 Medicare & Medicaid Services, and 4 the Director of the Indian Health 5 Service; 6 ‘‘(II) promote bidirectional inter- 7 operability between management in- 8 formation systems and electronic 9 health record systems of health care 10 providers; and 11 ‘‘(III) support development of 12 model software or systems that could 13 be utilized by multiple State agencies 14 for the communication described in 15 subparagraph (A). 16 ‘‘(C) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 17 TIONS.—From amounts appropriated under 18 subsection (g), $50,000,000 may be made avail- 19 able to carry out this paragraph for fiscal year 20 2022, to be available until expended. 21 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 22 ‘‘(i) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ 23 means the special supplemental nutrition 24 program under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2555 IH ‘‘(ii) PROGRAM PARTICIPANT.—The 1 term ‘program participant’ means a partic- 2 ipant in the program.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:02 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2555.IH H2555 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS