42 U.S.C. § 300u–7 — Office of Adolescent Health

(a) In general: This section creates an Office of Adolescent Health inside the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, led by a director the Secretary appoints. The Secretary carries out this section through that Director. (b) Duties: On adolescent health, the Secretary must: (1) coordinate all Department of Health and Human Services activities on disease prevention, health promotion, preventive health services, and health information and education about using health care wisely — including coordinating (A) designing, supporting, and evaluating programs; (B) tracking trends; (C) research projects, including multidisciplinary ones, on adolescent health; and (D) training providers who work with adolescents, especially nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and social workers; (2) coordinate these activities with similar private-sector work; and (3) support projects, research, and information-sharing on preventive medicine, health promotion, and physical fitness and sports medicine. (c) Certain demonstration projects: (1) Under (b)(3), the Secretary may fund demonstration projects to improve adolescent health, including (A) training providers to serve adolescents, and (B) reducing violence among adolescents — especially teen dating violence — including educational programs to raise awareness and prevent abuse. (2) Congress authorizes $8,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027 to fund paragraph (1). (d) Information clearinghouse: Under (b), the Secretary must run a National Information Clearinghouse on Adolescent Health, to collect and share adolescent health information with health professionals and the public. (e) National plan: Under (b), the Secretary must build a national plan to improve adolescent health, matching the Secretary's year-2000 national health-status goals, and must review and update it as needed. The Secretary must send the plan, and any updates, to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. (f) Adolescent health: In this section, "adolescent health" — for adolescents of all racial and ethnic groups — means diseases, disorders, and conditions, including mental health ones, that are: (1) unique to adolescents, or more common or serious in them; (2) different — or of unknown difference — for adolescents in terms of medical risk or treatment type; or (3) understudied in adolescents, with little clinical research or data on them. (g) Interagency Work Group: (1) The Secretary must set up the Federal Interagency Work Group on Teen Dating Violence ("the Work Group"). (2) (A) Within 120 days of March 15, 2022, the Secretary must appoint members to the Work Group from the Administration for Children and Families, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and other agencies the Secretary picks. (B) The Work Group must consult (i) state, tribal, and local experts on reducing and preventing teen dating violence; (ii) victims of teen dating violence; and (iii) family members of teens killed by a dating partner. (3) The Work Group must: (A) review all federal efforts against teen dating violence; (B) find strategies and resources to improve state, tribal, and local responses; (C) recommend to Congress how to improve and coordinate federal programs against teen dating violence; and (D) recommend how to educate middle and high school students on the topic. (4) The Work Group must send the Secretary, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the House Committee on Education and Labor an annual report on its activities and recommendations to reduce and prevent teen dating violence.