42 U.S.C. § 300u–6 — Office of Minority Health

(a) In general: This section creates an Office of Minority Health. The Office, as it existed on March 23, 2010, moves into the Office of the Secretary, headed by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, who reports directly to the Secretary. It keeps and strengthens its powers, as of March 23, 2010, to improve minority health and health care quality, and to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities. To do this, the Secretary — through the Deputy Assistant Secretary — must award grants and contracts, and sign memoranda of understanding and cooperative, interagency, and intra-agency agreements with public and nonprofit groups, other federal agencies, and organizations that are indigenous resource providers in communities of color, to improve the health of racial and ethnic minorities. The Secretary must also build ways to measure whether efforts to reduce disparities and support local communities are working — covering community outreach, language services, workforce cultural competence, and other areas the Secretary picks. (b) Duties: To improve the health of racial and ethnic minority groups, the Secretary, through the Deputy Assistant Secretary, must: (1) set short- and long-range goals, and coordinate all Public Health Service activities on disease prevention, health promotion, service delivery, and research for these groups — agency heads must consult the Deputy Assistant Secretary to keep this coordinated; (2) sign interagency agreements with other Public Health Service agencies; (3) support research, demonstrations, and evaluations testing new models; (4) build knowledge of health risk factors; (5) build ways to better share information, education, prevention, and services with disadvantaged people, including racial and ethnic minorities; (6) make sure the National Center for Health Statistics collects health-status data on each minority group; (7) for people who don't speak English well, contract with public and nonprofit primary care providers to increase their access to services through bilingual or interpretive programs; (8) support a national minority health resource center that (A) helps exchange information on health information, health promotion, preventive health services, and education on using health care wisely; (B) helps people access that information; (C) helps analyze related issues and problems; and (D) gives technical help in exchanging that information, including building materials for that help; (9) run programs improving access to health care for people with limited English proficiency, including developing and evaluating model projects; and (10) advise on developing, running, and evaluating health-professional education that reduces disparities in health outcomes, including cultural competency training. (c) Advisory Committee: (1) The Secretary must create an Advisory Committee on Minority Health ("the Committee"). (2) The Committee advises the Deputy Assistant Secretary on this section's work, including goals and specific programs under (b)(1) through (10) for each racial and ethnic minority group. (3) The Secretary picks the Committee's chairperson from its voting members, who serves a 2-year term. (4) Composition: (A) The Committee has 12 voting members, appointed under (B), plus nonvoting, ex officio members named under (C). (B) The Secretary appoints voting members from people who aren't federal officers or employees and have minority-health expertise; racial and ethnic minority groups must be equally represented. (C) Nonvoting, ex officio members are Department of Health and Human Services officials the Secretary picks. (5) Each member serves a 4-year term, except that the Secretary initially staggers some members' terms at 1, 2, and 3 years. (6) If a seat becomes vacant, the Secretary must fill it within 90 days, and the new member serves out the old term. A vacancy doesn't stop the rest of the Committee from working. (7) Members who are federal officers or employees serve without pay. Other members are paid for each day, including travel time, they work for the Committee, capped at the daily rate for federal positions above GS-15. (d) Certain requirements regarding duties: (1) Recommendations regarding language: (A) On English proficiency, the Deputy Assistant Secretary must consult the Director of the Office of International and Refugee Health, the Director of the Office of Civil Rights, and other relevant department officials on carrying out duty (b)(9). (B) On health-disparities education, the Deputy Assistant Secretary must carry out duty (b)(10) working with relevant Department of Health and Human Services staff, other federal agencies, and other offices with duties under the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000. (2) Equitable allocation regarding activities: The Secretary must make sure services under subsection (b) are fairly shared among all groups this section serves. (3) Cultural competency of services: The Secretary must make sure information and services under subsection (b) are delivered in the language, education level, and cultural context that fits the people they're for. (e) Grants and contracts regarding duties: (1) To carry out subsection (b), the Secretary — through the Deputy Assistant Secretary — may award grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to public and nonprofit groups. (2) The Deputy Assistant Secretary must make these awards competitively as much as practical, and award a grant only after the proposal goes through peer review. (3) The Deputy Assistant Secretary, directly or by contract, must evaluate projects funded in the prior 2 fiscal years, and include that evaluation in the subsection (f) report. (f) Reports: (1) Starting February 1, 1999, and every second year after that, the Secretary must send a report to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, describing this section's activities over the prior 2 fiscal years and evaluating how well they improved minority health. Each report must include the biennial reports agencies submitted. (2) Starting February 1, 1999, and every 2 years after that, each Public Health Service agency head must send the Deputy Assistant Secretary a report summarizing that agency's minority health activities. (g) Definitions: (1) "Racial and ethnic minority group" means American Indians, including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts; Asian Americans; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders; Blacks; and Hispanics. (2) "Hispanic" means people whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or from any other Spanish-speaking country. (h) Authorization of appropriations: Congress authorizes whatever money is necessary to carry out this section for fiscal years 2011 through 2016.