No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10287 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10287
To provide women with increased access to preventive and life-saving
cancer screening.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 4, 2024
Mr. Gomez (for himself, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Carter of
Louisiana, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York,
Mr. Cohen, Ms. DeGette, Mrs. Ramirez, Mr. Deluzio, Mrs. Dingell, Mr.
Evans, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Johnson of Georgia,
Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Lee of California, Ms.
McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Moulton, Mrs. Torres of California, Ms.
Norton, Mr. Peters, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Robert Garcia of California, Mr.
Ruppersberger, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Soto, Ms. Strickland, Ms.
Tlaib, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and
Mrs. Watson Coleman) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide women with increased access to preventive and life-saving
cancer screening.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Jeanette Acosta Invest in Women's
Health Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this Act to provide women with increased
access to preventive and life-saving cancer screening (including
clinical breast exams and breast, cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal,
and vulvar cancer screening), as well as access to appropriate care and
early detection (including via diagnostic testing and treatment and
provider education and awareness of best clinical practices), provided
by leading women's health care providers who--
(1) serve populations most at risk of lacking access to
preventive care; and
(2) play an outsized role in the prevention and detection
of cancer in order to serve the goal of increasing access to
quality health screenings, care, and services, reducing health
care disparities and mortality rates among low-income women and
women of color, decreasing health care spending, and expanding
health literacy, access, and education about the benefits of
regular preventive cancer screening for women.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in
women under the age of 54, and the American Cancer Society
recommends that women in their 20s and 30s have a clinical
breast exam at least every 3 years.
(2) Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer
of the female reproductive system, but it accounts for only
about 3 percent of all cancers in women.
(3) The cancers that most frequently impact women include
breast, uterine, ovarian, and cervical cancer, and there were
355,937 new cases of these cancers in 2019.
(4) Rates of incidence and death for gynecologic cancers by
race and ethnicity show that, while for some cancers, like
ovarian cancer, the rates of incidence and death are similar
among all races, for other cancers, like cervical cancer, women
of color have disproportionate incidence and mortality rates.
While the incidence of uterine cancer is similar for White
women and women of color, rates of death for uterine cancer are
2 times higher for Black women than for White women.
(5) Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates are
higher for women living in rural and underserved regions in the
United States. Women living in such areas face unique barriers
in accessing reproductive health care services to prevent and
treat cervical cancer, including a lack of practicing
gynecologists in rural areas and challenges around
transportation to preventive and follow-up appointments.
(6) Prevention and cancer screening are the best approaches
to protecting women from cancer and ensuring early detection
and life-saving treatment. Many deaths from breast and cervical
cancers could be avoided if cancer screening rates and
diagnostic care and services increased among women at risk.
Deaths from such cancers occur disproportionately among women
who are uninsured or underinsured.
(7) Due to enhanced screening, cervical cancer is now a
much more preventable and treatable cancer. It is also highly
curable when found and treated early.
(8) Increased access to education; information, including
information on the human papillomavirus vaccine; and preventive
cancer screenings, resulting in timely and adequate treatment,
increase women's ability to survive cancer.
(9) While more than 20 percent of cases of cervical cancer
are found in women over the age of 65, it becomes less likely
that women are tested for cervical cancer ever or within the
previous 5 years as their age increases.
(10) Women's health care providers that are primarily
engaged in family planning services, such as Planned Parenthood
health centers, provide necessary screening tests, education,
and information to women, especially women of color who face
the highest risks of breast cancer and other gynecologic
cancers.
(11) Access to preventive gynecological screening is also
critical for transgender men who have comparable rates of
susceptibility to cervical cancer as cisgender women, but often
have less access to preventive screenings.
(12) Discrimination and racism in health care continues to
contribute to disparate rates of gynecological cancer in non-
White women. Black, Indigenous, and other women of color die at
higher rates from cervical cancer than White women, even though
fewer women overall die from cervical cancer.
(13) Black women with endometrial cancer often receive
surgery less often than White women and are more likely to be
diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease, contributing to
disparities in mortality in Black women.
SEC. 4. STRENGTHENING ACCESS TO CANCER SCREENING FOR WOMEN.
Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 317P the following:
``SEC. 317P-1. GRANTS FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary is authorized to make grants and
to enter into contracts with public or nonprofit private entities to
expand preventive health services, including the cancer screening
services required to be covered by group health plans and health
insurance coverage pursuant to section 2713(a)(4). In awarding such
grants, the Secretary shall seek to increase access to critical, life-
saving cancer screening, cervical cytology (commonly referred to as
`Pap tests'), human papillomavirus tests, human papillomavirus and Pap
co-tests, human papillomavirus vaccinations, and diagnostic tests for
women with cancer symptoms, particularly women of color.
``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section, $20,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2025 through 2027.''.
SEC. 5. EXPANDING CANCER SCREENING PROVIDER TRAINING.
Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243
et seq.), as amended by section 4, is further amended by inserting
after section 317P-1 the following:
``SEC. 317P-2. WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS DEMONSTRATION TRAINING
PROJECT.
``(a) Establishment of Program.--The Secretary shall establish a
demonstration program to award 3-year grants to eligible entities for
the training of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants,
and other health care providers related to life-saving breast and
gynecologic cancer screening for women, including appropriate follow-up
care and screening for abnormal results.
``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the program under this section is to
enable each grant recipient to--
``(1) provide to licensed physicians, nurse practitioners,
physician assistants, and other health care providers, through
clinical training, education, and practice, the most up-to-date
clinical guidelines, research, and recommendations adopted by
the United States Preventive Services Task Force in the area of
preventive cancer screening for breast and gynecologic cancers,
including for women with dense breast tissue;
``(2) establish a model of training for physicians, nurse
practitioners, physician assistants, and other health care
providers that specialize in women's health care, with a
specific focus on breast and gynecologic cancer screening and
follow up care, that may be replicated nationwide;
``(3) train physicians, nurse practitioners, physician
assistants, and other health care providers to serve rural and
underserved communities, low-income communities, and
communities of color in breast and gynecologic cancer screening
and follow up care; and
``(4) provide implicit bias, cultural competency, and
patient-centered communication training covering the ways in
which structural racism and discrimination manifest within the
medical field and perpetuate racial disparities in gynecologic
cancer incidence and mortality rates and how to communicate
with patients through a knowledgeable and culturally empathetic
lens.
``(c) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, an entity shall be--
``(1) an entity that receives funding under section 1001 or
section 1003;
``(2) an essential community provider, as defined in
section 156.235 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or
any successor regulations), that is primarily engaged in family
planning;
``(3) an entity that furnishes items or services to
individuals enrolled in a State Medicaid program or waiver of
such a plan; or
``(4) an entity that, at the time of application, provides
cancer screening services under the National Breast and
Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program under title XV.''.
SEC. 6. STUDY AND REPORT TO CONGRESS ON INCREASED CANCER SCREENING FOR
WOMEN.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services
(referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall--
(1) conduct a study (and periodically update such study) on
increased access to women's preventive life-saving cancer
screenings across the United States; and
(2) not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, submit a report to
Congress on such study.
(b) Contents.--The study and reports under subsection (a) shall
include--
(1) an analysis of breast and gynecologic cancer rates
among women across all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and
the territories, including by geographic area, income,
employment status, race, ethnicity, and status of insurance
coverage;
(2) an analysis of cancer screenings provided by women's
health care providers across all 50 States, the District of
Columbia, and the territories, including clinical breast exams,
other screening for breast cancer, and screening for cervical
cancer, ovarian cancer, and other gynecologic cancers;
(3) with respect to women with disproportionate rates of
gynecological cancers, or who are less likely to receive
screenings and care, and broken down by categories of such
women that include African-American women, Hispanic and Latina
women, older women, uninsured and underinsured women, and women
living in rural and underserved areas--
(A) an analysis of the awareness, availability, and
uptake of breast, cervical, ovarian, and other
gynecological cancer screening options;
(B) an analysis of how access to health care
providers trained under the program described in
section 317P-2 of the Public Health Service Act, as
added by section 5, in comparison to other health care
providers, increased early detection of cancer and
quality of cancer care for such women; and
(C) recommendations for increasing screening rates
for such women who are less likely to be screened or
treated for breast, cervical, ovarian, and other
gynecological cancers;
(4) an analysis of how structural racism impacts access to
cancer screening services, correlates to the development of
breast, cervical, ovarian, and other gynecological cancers, and
exacerbates health care disparities for African-American,
Hispanic and Latina women, and other women of color;
(5) in consultation with the Comptroller General of the
United States, estimated Federal savings achieved through early
detection of breast and gynecologic cancers;
(6) recommendations by the Secretary with respect to the
need for continued increased access to women's health care
providers, such as the entities described in section 317P-2(c)
of the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 5, who
provide preventive care, including life-saving cancer
screenings; and
(7) an evaluation of the demonstration project on co-
testing for human papillomavirus and cervical cancer under
section 317P-3 of the Public Health Service Act, as added by
section 7, including the results of the demonstration project
and a recommendation on whether expansion of the co-testing
model described in such section 317P-3 would be advised in
order to promote early intervention, screening uptake, and
reduce cervical cancer deaths and racial and ethnic
disparities.
SEC. 7. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT ON CO-TESTING FOR HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS
AND CERVICAL CANCER.
Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243
et seq.), as amended by section 5, is further amended by inserting
after section 317P-2 the following:
``SEC. 317P-3. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT ON CO-TESTING FOR HUMAN
PAPILLOMAVIRUS AND CERVICAL CANCER.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary, in consultation with the Director
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator
of the Health Resources and Services Administration, as appropriate,
shall establish a 2-year demonstration project on increasing the
cervical cancer screening co-testing of human papillomavirus and
cervical cytology (commonly referred to as `Pap tests') to develop
models for increasing the rates of co-testing among women with
disproportionate rates of cervical cancer, including African-American
and Hispanic and Latina women.
``(b) Use of Funds.--Entities receiving an award under this section
shall use such award to--
``(1) increase access to co-testing of human papillomavirus
testing and cervical cancer among patients with
disproportionate rates of cervical cytology, including African-
American and Hispanic and Latina women;
``(2) support culturally and linguistically appropriate
delivery models to such patients, including through the
provision of interpretation services; or
``(3) provide other services to improve health outcomes
with respect to such patients.
``(c) Prioritization.--In making awards under this section, the
Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities serving low-income,
uninsured, or medically underserved populations (as defined in section
330(b)(3)) or populations with historically low rates of such co-
testing, such as older women.
``(d) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
this section, an entity shall be an entity described in section 317P-
2(c).''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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