§ 280g–11 — Awards To Support Community Health Workers And Community Health

(a) The Secretary shall award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to eligible entities to promote positive health behaviors and outcomes for populations in medically underserved communities by leveraging community health workers, including by addressing ongoing and longer-term community health needs, and by building the capacity of the community health worker workforce. Such grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements shall be awarded in alignment and coordination with existing funding arrangements supporting community health workers. (b) Subject to any requirements for the scope of licensure, registration, or certification of a community health worker under applicable State law, grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements awarded under subsection (a) shall be used to— (1) recruit, hire, train, and retain community health workers that reflect the needs of the community; (2) support community health workers in providing education and outreach, in a community setting, regarding— (A) health conditions prevalent in— (i) medically underserved communities (as defined in section 295p of this title), particularly racial and ethnic minority populations; and (ii) other such at-risk populations or geographic areas that may require additional support during public health emergencies, which may include counties identified by the Secretary using applicable measures developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other Federal agencies; and (B) addressing health disparities, including by— (i) promoting awareness of services and resources to increase access to health care, mental health and substance use disorder services, child services, technology, housing services, educational services, nutrition services, employment services, and other services; and (ii) assisting in conducting individual and community needs assessments; (3) educate community members, including regarding effective strategies to promote healthy behaviors; (4) educate and provide outreach regarding enrollment in health insurance including the Children’s Health Insurance Program under title XXI of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.], Medicare under title XVIII of such Act [42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.] and Medicaid under title XIX of such Act [42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.]; (5) identify and refer underserved populations to appropriate health care agencies and community-based programs and organizations in order to increase access to quality health care services and to streamline care, including serving as a liaison between communities and health care agencies; and (6) support community health workers in educating, guiding, or providing home visitation services regarding chronic diseases, maternal health, prenatal, and postpartum care in order to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. (c) To be eligible to receive an award under subsection (a), an entity shall prepare and submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. (d) In making awards under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that— (1) propose to serve— (A) areas with populations that have a high rate of chronic disease, infant mortality, or maternal morbidity and mortality; (B) low-income populations, including medically underserved populations (as defined in section 254b(b)(3) of this title); (C) populations residing in health professional shortage areas (as defined in section 254e(a) of this title); (D) populations residing in maternity care health professional target areas identified under section 254e(k) of this title; or (E) rural or traditionally underserved populations, including racial and ethnic minority populations or low-income populations; (2) have experience in providing health or health-related social services to individuals who are underserved with respect to such services, including rural populations and racial and ethnic minority populations; (3) have documented community activity and experience and established relationships with community health workers in the communities expected to be served by the program; (4) develop a plan for providing services to the extent practicable, in the language and cultural context most appropriate to individuals expected to be served by the program; and (5) propose to use evidence-informed or evidence-based practices, as applicable and appropriate. (e) The Secretary shall encourage eligible entities receiving funds under this section to collaborate with academic institutions, health professions schools, minority-serving institutions (defined, for purposes of this subsection, as institutions and programs described in section 1063b(e)(1) of title 20 and institutions described in section 1067q(a) of title 20), area health education centers under section 294a of this title, and one-stop delivery systems under section 3151 of title 29. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require such collaboration. (f) The Secretary may provide to eligible entities that receive awards under subsection (a) technical assistance with respect to planning, development, and operation of community health worker programs authorized or supported under this section. (g) Not later than 4 years after December 29, 2022, the Secretary shall, based on activities carried out under this section and in consultation with relevant stakeholders, identify and disseminate evidence-based or evidence-informed practices regarding recruitment and retention of community health workers and paraprofessionals to address ongoing public health and community health needs, and to prepare for, and respond to, future public health emergencies. (h) Not later than 4 years after December 29, 2022, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives a report concerning the effectiveness of the program under this section in addressing ongoing public health and community health needs. Such report shall include recommendations regarding any improvements to such program, including recommendations for how to improve recruitment, training, and retention of the community health workforce. (i) For purposes of carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027. (j) In this section: (1) defined in section 1861(aa)(4) of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1395x(aa)(4)]), or a consortium of any such entities. (2) The terms “Indian Tribe” and “Tribal organization” have the meanings given the terms “Indian tribe” and “tribal organization”, respectively, in section 5304 of title 25. (3) The term “urban Indian organization” has the meaning given such term in section 1603 of title 25.