Health Acts 2000: Summary
Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000
February 8, 2001
AFI Health Committee Officers
Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Texas), Chair
Senator Thomas Libous (R-New York), Vice Chair
Senator Nadine Thomas (D-Georgia), Vice Chair
Senator Charles Scott (R-Wyoming), Vice Chair
Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000
Issue Description
Despite notable progress over the last 50 years in the overall health status of Americans, there are continuing disparities in the burden of illness and death experienced by racial and ethnic minority groups, when compared to the population as a whole. In addition, minorities continue to be underrepresented in the health professions, although minority health professionals provide more health services to minority and low-income patients.
President Clinton and the Congress have made a national commitment to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care in the United States through initiatives aimed at preventing disease, promoting healthy living and ensuring the delivery appropriate care. Cultural competency and increasing the numbers of minorities in the health professions has also been a part of the initiative. The Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Education Act of 2000 is a part of this continuing effort.
Background
The Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000, signed into law on November 22, 2000 as P.L. 106-525, creates a National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Center will fund research programs on health disparities and minority health; support training of members of health disparity populations as researchers; and provide education loan relief for health professionals who commit themselves to perform health disparities research. The Center will also coordinate all NIH research efforts in this area.
The Act also authorizes the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to conduct and support activities and research to measure health disparities and to identify causes and remedies.
Finally, it authorizes the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support research and demonstration projects to train health care professionals on reducing health care disparities.
Summary of major provisions
Improving Minority Health and Reducing Health Disparities Through the National Institutes of Health
Center for Research on Minority Health and Health Disparities
The Act establishes the Center for Research on Minority Health and Health Disparities within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Center Director is to:
- chair a task force to establish a comprehensive plan and budget estimates for minority health activities that should be conducted or supported by NIH and to recommend an appropriate agenda for the research;
- establish a minority health research information system to track minority-related research, training, and construction;
- act as the primary federal official for monitoring all minority health research conducted or supported by NIH; and
- identify areas of insufficient minority health research at NIH and its institutes and centers, and to provide funds to those entities to award peer-review grants for innovative projects that address high priority areas of minority health research.
The Center Director is required to report annually to Congress and to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on the progress and expenditures made with regard to minority health research. The Secretary is required to provide administrative and support services to the Center Director and to ensure that the support takes maximum advantage of existing administrative structures at NIH agencies. The Act authorizes appropriations of $100 million in FY 2001, and such sums as may be necessary for FY 2002 - FY 2005 for the implementation of these provisions.
Centers of Excellence
The Secretary is authorized to make grants to, and enter into contracts with, designated biomedical research institutions and other public and nonprofit health or educational entities to assist in supporting programs of excellence in biomedical research education for under-represented minority individuals. The Act authorizes appropriations of such sums as may be necessary for FY 2001 - FY 2005 for these grants.
Extramural Loan Repayment Program
The Act authorizes the Secretary to contract with qualified health professionals who agree to engage in minority health research or research into the nature of health disparities that affect racial, ethnic, and indigenous populations, in return for the federal repayment of up to $35,000 of the principal and interest of educational loans, for each year of the research. The Secretary is required to ensure the active participation of appropriately qualified minority health professionals through the use of extensive outreach and recruitment efforts. The Act authorizes appropriations of such sums as may be necessary for FY 2001 - FY 2005 for the loan repayment program.
Report Regarding NIH Resources Dedicated to Minority Health and Health Disparities Research
The Center Director must submit a report to Congress, the Secretary and the NIH Director on recommendations for the methodology that should be used to determine how NIH resources should be used to address issues related to minority health and health disparities. The report is to be submitted no later than December 1, 2003.
Health Disparities Research by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
The AHRQ Administrator is directed to:
- conduct and support research for improving the quality and outcomes of health care services for minority populations and the causes of health care disparities;
- identify, test, and evaluate strategies for eliminating disparities; and
- try to increase the number of minority health care researchers and health services research capacity of institutions that train minority health care researchers.
The Act authorizes the AHRQ Director to use demonstration projects as part of the research activities and requires the Administrator to support the development of measures that assess the experience of minority populations with health care systems.
The Secretary is required to submit a report to Congress describing quality measurement for minority populations that will identify critical unmet needs and activities to address those needs. The Act authorizes appropriations of $50 million in FY 2001 and such sums as may be necessary for FY 2002 - FY 2005 for AHRQ activities.
Data Collection Relating to Race or Ethnicity
The Secretary is directed to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a comprehensive study of U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) data collection systems and practices relating to the collection of data on race or ethnicity. The Academy is required to submit a report to Congress on the study results and recommendations.
Health Professions Education
Grants for Health Professions Education
The Secretary is authorized to award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to public and private nonprofit entities to carry out research and demonstration projects to develop curricula to reduce disparity in health care outcomes, including cultural competency in graduate and undergraduate health professions education. The Secretary can make up to 20 grants and each grant is limited to a three year term. The Secretary is require to report to Congress on the effectiveness of the programs. The Act authorizes appropriations of $3.5 million in FY 2001; $7 million in each of FY 2002 and FY 2003; and $3.5 million in FY 2004 for these grants.
National Conference on Health Professions Education and Health Disparities
The Secretary is directed to convene a national conference on continuing health professions education as a method for reducing health care disparity, including continuing medical education on cultural competency. The Secretary is required to publish the conference findings in the Federal Register. The Act authorizes appropriations at such sums as may be necessary to convene the national conference.
Establishment of an Advisory Committee
The Secretary is directed to establish a committee to advise the Secretary on matters related to the development, implementation, and evaluation of graduate and continuing education curricula for health care professionals to decrease the health care disparity. The Committee is scheduled to sunset four years after the appointment of its first member.
Public Awareness and Dissemination of Information on Health Disparities
The Secretary is directed to conduct a national media campaign for informing the public about racial and ethnic health care disparities.
Vital Statistics
- John Ruffin was sworn in as the first Director of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities on January 9, 2000.
- Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act (P.L. 106-525, signed into law 11/22/00).
- Introduced in the House as H.R. 3250 by Representative Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi and in the Senate as S. 1880 by Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
This summary is an information service provided by NCSL's Assembly on Federal Issues' Health Committee. For more up-to-date information on federal issues, visit our website at: http://www.ncsl.org/statefed/afihlth.htm
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