View all text of Subpartv [§ 256 - § 256a-1]
§ 256a. Patient navigator grants
(a) Grants
(b) Use of fundsThe Secretary shall require each recipient of a grant under this section to use the grant to recruit, assign, train, and employ patient navigators who have direct knowledge of the communities they serve to facilitate the care of individuals, including by performing each of the following duties:
(1) Acting as contacts, including by assisting in the coordination of health care services and provider referrals, for individuals who are seeking prevention or early detection services for, or who following a screening or early detection service are found to have a symptom, abnormal finding, or diagnosis of, cancer or other chronic disease.
(2) Facilitating the involvement of community organizations in assisting individuals who are at risk for or who have cancer or other chronic diseases to receive better access to high-quality health care services (such as by creating partnerships with patient advocacy groups, charities, health care centers, community hospice centers, other health care providers, or other organizations in the targeted community).
(3) Notifying individuals of clinical trials and, on request, facilitating enrollment of eligible individuals in these trials.
(4) Anticipating, identifying, and helping patients to overcome barriers within the health care system to ensure prompt diagnostic and treatment resolution of an abnormal finding of cancer or other chronic disease.
(5) Coordinating with the relevant health insurance ombudsman programs to provide information to individuals who are at risk for or who have cancer or other chronic diseases about health coverage, including private insurance, health care savings accounts, and other publicly funded programs (such as Medicare, Medicaid, health programs operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense, the State children’s health insurance program, and any private or governmental prescription assistance programs).
(6) Conducting ongoing outreach to health disparity populations, including the uninsured, rural populations, and other medically underserved populations, in addition to assisting other individuals who are at risk for or who have cancer or other chronic diseases to seek preventative care.
(c) Prohibitions
(1) Referral fees
(2) Legal fees and costs
(d) Grant period
(1) In general
(2) Extensions
(3) Limitations on grant period
(e) Application
(1) In general
(2) Contents
(3) Minimum core proficiencies
(f) Uniform baseline measures
(g) Preference
(h) Duplication of services
(i) Coordination with other programs
(j) Study; reports
(1) Final report by SecretaryNot later than 6 months after the completion of the demonstration grant program under this section, the Secretary shall conduct a study of the results of the program and submit to the Congress a report on such results that includes the following:
(A) An evaluation of the program outcomes, including—
(i) quantitative analysis of baseline and benchmark measures; and
(ii) aggregate information about the patients served and program activities.
(B) Recommendations on whether patient navigator programs could be used to improve patient outcomes in other public health areas.
(2) Interim reports by Secretary
(3) Reports by grantees
(k) Rule of construction
(l) DefinitionsIn this section:
(1) The term “eligible entity” means a public or nonprofit private health center (including a Federally qualified health center (as that term is defined in section 1395x(aa)(4) of this title)), a health facility operated by or pursuant to a contract with the Indian Health Service, a hospital, a cancer center, a rural health clinic, an academic health center, or a nonprofit entity that enters into a partnership or coordinates referrals with such a center, clinic, facility, or hospital to provide patient navigator services.
(2) The term “health disparity population” means a population that, as determined by the Secretary, has a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rates as compared to the health status of the general population.
(3) The term “patient navigator” means an individual who has completed a training program approved by the Secretary to perform the duties listed in subsection (b).
(m) Authorization of appropriations
(1) In general
(2) Availability
(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, § 340A, as added Pub. L. 109–18, § 2, June 29, 2005, 119 Stat. 340; amended Pub. L. 111–148, title III, § 3510, Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 537.)