Protecting the Health of America’s Older Adults During COVID–19 and Beyond Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6935 To provide for the establishment of a National COVID–19 Resource Center for Older Adults, to authorize a Healthy Aging Program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 19, 2020 Ms. FRANKEL (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mrs. DINGELL, and Ms. SHALALA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To provide for the establishment of a National COVID– 19 Resource Center for Older Adults, to authorize a Healthy Aging Program, 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 ‘‘Protecting the Health 4 of America’s Older Adults During COVID–19 and Beyond 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6935 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL COVID–19 RESOURCE CENTER FOR 1 OLDER ADULTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 3 Human Services (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec- 4 retary’’) shall establish within the Office of the Assistant 5 Secretary for Health a National COVID–19 Resource 6 Center for Older Adults (in this section referred to as the 7 ‘‘Center’’) to identify, curate, and disseminate, promising 8 and proven practices and tools for the care of older adults 9 in their homes, community-based care settings, hospitals, 10 and nursing and acute care facilities. 11 (b) INVOLVEMENT BY FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND 12 ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT.—The Center shall— 13 (1) be advised by a team of senior officials 14 from— 15 (A) agencies across the Department of 16 Health and Human Services, including the Ad- 17 ministration for Community Living (including 18 the Administration on Aging), the Centers for 19 Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for 20 Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Health Re- 21 sources and Services Administration, the Indian 22 Health Service, and the Office of Minority 23 Health in the Office of the Secretary; and 24 (B) other Federal departments, including 25 the Department of Housing and Urban Devel- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6935 IH opment and the Department of Veterans Af- 1 fairs; and 2 (2) collaborate with State and local govern- 3 ments, Indian tribes and Tribal organizations, and 4 nonprofit organizations. 5 (c) ACTIVITIES.—The Center shall perform the fol- 6 lowing activities: 7 (1) Develop a set of best practices for older 8 adult health and wellbeing during and beyond the 9 period of the COVID–19 pandemic, including such 10 best practices with respect to the following focus 11 areas: 12 (A) Providing specialized services to over- 13 come the risks associated with social isolation, 14 such as additional resources for home-delivered 15 meals and other nutrition programs to provide 16 not only food but also face-to-face interactions. 17 (B) Streamlining and improving access to 18 screening, testing, and health care services and 19 resources, and prioritizing venues older adults 20 can reach. 21 (C) Expanding the use of telemedicine, in- 22 cluding the provision of technology to execute 23 televisits that safely and comprehensively ad- 24 dress older adults’ health care needs. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6935 IH (D) Supporting family caregivers, includ- 1 ing those with additional responsibilities for 2 homebound individuals. 3 (E) Reducing disparities among under- 4 served populations. 5 (F) Developing cross-sector collaborative 6 efforts. 7 (2) Create and disseminate tools, technical as- 8 sistance, training, and funding to State, local, Trib- 9 al, and territorial governments to adopt best prac- 10 tices developed under subparagraphs (E) and (F) of 11 paragraph (1). 12 (3) Establish mechanisms for providing training 13 and technical assistance to State, local, Tribal, and 14 territorial governments to ensure that complemen- 15 tary cross-sector activities are replicated at the 16 State, local, Tribal, and territorial levels. 17 (4) Facilitate the development of learning net- 18 works of practitioners at the hospital, nursing facil- 19 ity, and community levels to disseminate the best 20 practices developed under paragraph (1) and ensure 21 implementation of such best practices to reduce mor- 22 bidity and mortality of older adults affected by 23 COVID–19. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6935 IH (5) Identify and disseminate approaches that 1 strengthen public health and health care system ca- 2 pacity to serve older Americans with regard to 3 health issues during and beyond the COVID–19 4 pandemic. 5 SEC. 3. HEALTHY AGING PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 7 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 8 tion, shall establish a Healthy Aging Program for the pur- 9 pose of promoting the health and wellbeing of older adults 10 by— 11 (1) improving the coordination of public health 12 interventions that promote the health and wellbeing 13 of older adults; 14 (2) disseminating and implementing evidence- 15 based best practices and programs with respect to 16 promoting the health and wellbeing of older adults; 17 and 18 (3) coordinating multisectoral efforts to pro- 19 mote the health and wellbeing of older adults across 20 governmental and nongovernmental health and re- 21 lated agencies. 22 (b) ACTIVITIES.—For the purpose described in sub- 23 section (a), the Secretary shall design the Healthy Aging 24 Program to carry out the following activities: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6935 IH (1) Regularly assess the health-related needs of 1 older adults and promote policies addressing those 2 needs through evidence-based public health interven- 3 tions to promote overall health and wellbeing among 4 older adults and reduce health care costs. 5 (2) Identify disparities in health among vulner- 6 able populations of older adults. 7 (3) Identify gaps in existing public health pro- 8 grams and policies that focus on older adults. 9 (4) Promote public health partnerships with 10 aging and other sector stakeholders to ensure non- 11 duplication of efforts and increase efficiency by 12 working collaboratively across sectors. 13 (5) Work with multisectoral agencies to improve 14 emergency preparedness plans and activities for vul- 15 nerable older adult populations. 16 (6) Coordinate efforts to promote the health of 17 older adults with the Administration for Community 18 Living, other Federal departments and agencies, and 19 nonprofit organizations. 20 (7) Identify resources and evidence-based pro- 21 grams available to local and State health depart- 22 ments, including resources and programs that could 23 be coordinated across sectors, to address the health 24 and wellbeing of older adults. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6935 IH (c) GRANTS TO HEALTH DEPARTMENTS.—The Sec- 1 retary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Dis- 2 ease Control and Prevention, shall award grants or cooper- 3 ative agreements to eligible health departments to carry 4 out any of the following activities: 5 (1) Improving availability of data on the older 6 adult population, including through data-sharing 7 with elder affairs agencies. 8 (2) Linking the health care sector with the 9 community services sector (including aging services 10 and supports) to coordinate and promote commu- 11 nity-based prevention services. 12 (3) Ensuring that State and local emergency 13 preparedness plans and activities address the special 14 needs of older adults, particularly the most vulner- 15 able populations. 16 (4) Training State and local public health per- 17 sonnel to implement or adapt evidence-based and in- 18 novative health promotion and disease prevention 19 programs and policies. 20 (5) Improving community conditions and ad- 21 dressing social determinants to promote health and 22 wellbeing and foster independence among older 23 adults, such as efforts to advance age-friendly com- 24 munities and dementia-friendly communities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6935 IH (d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 1 (directly or through grants, cooperative agreements, or 2 contracts) provide technical assistance to eligible health 3 departments in carrying out activities described in sub- 4 section (c). 5 (e) EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary shall (directly or 6 through grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts) pro- 7 vide for the evaluation of activities carried out under sub- 8 sections (a), (b), and (c) in order to determine the extent 9 to which such activities have been effective in carrying out 10 the purpose described in subsection (a), including the ef- 11 fects of such activities on addressing health disparities. 12 (f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘eligible 13 health department’’ means a health department of a State, 14 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 15 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American 16 Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 17 lands, a Tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self- 18 Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 19 5304)), or a large city (as defined by the Director of the 20 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for purposes 21 of this section). 22 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 23 There is authorized to be appropriated— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6935 IH (1) $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 1 2020 through 2024 to carry out section 2, to remain 2 available until September 30, 2024; and 3 (2) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 4 through 2025 to carry out section 3, including for 5 grants under section 3(c), to remain available until 6 September 30, 2025. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6935.IH H6935 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS