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Title II — Increased data collection and education for historically underrepresented populations

H.R. 164 · 115th Congress · Jan 3, 2017 · Lineage

II Increased data collection and education for historically underrepresented populations

Sec. 201 People living with disabilities

(a)
Tracking of information— The Director shall—
(1)
track national HIV/AIDS and STI screening trends and the burdens of HIV/AIDS and STIs among people with disabilities, including such persons with mental, physical, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities; and
(2)
identify and assess the barriers that prevent such persons from accessing HIV/AIDS and STI screening.
(b)
Tracking methodology—
(1)
In general— The tracking methods used by the Secretary under subsection (a) shall—
(A)
focus upon historically underrepresented communities, including the deaf and hearing loss-related community and the cognitive, intellectual, developmental, mobility, or mental health disability communities; and
(B)
consider other factors that may contribute to increased burdens of HIV/AIDS and STIs, including race, socio-economic status, region, gender identity, and sexual behavior.
(2)
Sexual assault data— Tracking under subsection (a) shall include data collection on the incidence of sexual assault on people with mental, physical, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities for the purposes of understanding the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and STIs that result from such assaults.
(c)
Deaf and hearing loss community—
(1)
In general— The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall work with appropriate organizations and institutions to make comprehensive sex education materials that promote voluntary screening for HIV/AIDS and STIs accessible to the deaf and hearing loss community through language (including American Sign Language), modalities (including highly graphic formats with minimal text), and culturally appropriate information delivery.
(2)
Health careers and education— The Secretary shall—
(A)
work with appropriate individuals, organizations, and institutions to increase the number of people who are deaf or living with hearing loss in public health careers for the purposes of—
(i)
building the public health infrastructure to improve data collection; and
(ii)
health information dissemination to people who are deaf or who live with hearing loss; and
(B)
engage students in elementary school, high school, college, and graduate school for the purposes of carrying out this paragraph.
(d)
Cognitive and intellectual disability community— The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall work with appropriate national and local organizations to make comprehensive sex education materials accessible to people with intellectual disabilities by—
(1)
using plain language;
(2)
educating service providers about the signs and symptoms of sexual assault among people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities; and
(3)
using other appropriate information delivery strategies.
(e)
Women living with severe physical disabilities— The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall work with Federal, State, and local entities to track access to pelvic examinations, mammograms, and other women’s health services for women with severe mobility impairments with the goal of improving access to such services.

Sec. 202 Women who have sex with women

(a)
National screening guidelines— The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall work with Federal, State, and local health entities to ensure that national screening guidelines for cervical cancer state that WSW should be subject to the same screening guidelines for cervical cancer as women who have sex only with men.
(b)
Information collection— The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall, with respect to the WSW community—
(1)
track national trends in screening for HIV/AIDS and other STIs; and
(2)
collect information on—
(A)
the burdens and behavior of HIV/AIDS and STIs; and
(B)
other reproductive health concerns.

Sec. 203 Transgender community

(a)
Data collection— The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall work with Federal, State, and local health entities and transgender communities to improve information collection concerning the transmission, morbidity, and screening for HIV/AIDS and other STIs in transgender communities.
(b)
Information classification— For purposes of acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the unique health trends among, and aspects of, the transgender community, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations requiring that, for purposes of public health studies requiring data collection, the fact that an individual is transgender shall be a distinct category and data point.

Sec. 204 Report

(a)
In general— Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress on the activities required under this Act.
(b)
Contents— The report issued to Congress under subsection (a) shall include—
(1)
information on the success of voluntary screening for HIV/AIDS and STIs, as well as other methods for preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS and STIs among Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries, patients at federally qualified health centers, individuals with health insurance, MSM, WSW, persons living with disabilities, the transgender community, and other groups that have been historically underrepresented in public health interventions for HIV/AIDS and STIs; and
(2)
recommendations on how to improve existing measures with respect to race, socioeconomic status, region, gender identity, disability, age, and sexual behavior—
(A)
to increase access to screening; and
(B)
to decrease the disparities in mortality and morbidity from HIV/AIDS and other STIs.