[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3759 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.3759
One Hundred Fifteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen
An Act
To provide for the establishment and maintenance of a Family Caregiving
Strategy, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Recognize, Assist, Include, Support,
and Engage Family Caregivers Act of 2017'' or the ``RAISE Family
Caregivers Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Advisory council.--The term ``Advisory Council'' means the
Family Caregiving Advisory Council convened under section 4.
(2) Family caregiver.--The term ``family caregiver'' means an
adult family member or other individual who has a significant
relationship with, and who provides a broad range of assistance to,
an individual with a chronic or other health condition, disability,
or functional limitation.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
Health and Human Services.
(4) Strategy.--The term ``Strategy'' means the Family
Caregiving Strategy set forth under section 3.
SEC. 3. FAMILY CAREGIVING STRATEGY.
(a) In General.--The Secretary, in consultation with the heads of
other appropriate Federal agencies, shall develop jointly with the
Advisory Council and submit to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions and the Special Committee on Aging of the Senate,
the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of
Representatives, and the State agencies responsible for carrying out
family caregiver programs, and make publicly available on the internet
website of the Department of Health and Human Services, a Family
Caregiving Strategy.
(b) Contents.--The Strategy shall identify recommended actions that
Federal (under existing Federal programs), State, and local
governments, communities, health care providers, long-term services and
supports providers, and others are taking, or may take, to recognize
and support family caregivers in a manner that reflects their diverse
needs, including with respect to the following:
(1) Promoting greater adoption of person- and family-centered
care in all health and long-term services and supports settings,
with the person receiving services and supports and the family
caregiver (as appropriate) at the center of care teams.
(2) Assessment and service planning (including care transitions
and coordination) involving family caregivers and care recipients.
(3) Information, education and training supports, referral, and
care coordination, including with respect to hospice care,
palliative care, and advance planning services.
(4) Respite options.
(5) Financial security and workplace issues.
(6) Delivering services based on the performance, mission, and
purpose of a program while eliminating redundancies.
(c) Duties of the Secretary.--The Secretary, in carrying out
subsection (a), shall oversee the following:
(1) Collecting and making publicly available information
submitted by the Advisory Council under section 4(d) to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special
Committee on Aging of the Senate, the Committee on Education and
the Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the State
agencies responsible for carrying out family caregiver programs,
including evidence-based or promising practices and innovative
models (both domestic and foreign) regarding the provision of care
by family caregivers or support for family caregivers.
(2) Coordinating and assessing existing Federal Government
programs and activities to recognize and support family caregivers
while ensuring maximum effectiveness and avoiding unnecessary
duplication.
(3) Providing technical assistance, as appropriate, such as
disseminating identified best practices and information sharing
based on reports provided under section 4(d), to State or local
efforts to support family caregivers.
(d) Initial Strategy; Updates.--The Secretary shall--
(1) not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of
this Act, develop, publish, and submit to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special Committee on Aging
of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the
House of Representatives, and the State agencies responsible for
carrying out family caregiver programs, an initial Strategy
incorporating the items addressed in the Advisory Council's initial
report under section 4(d) and other relevant information, including
best practices, for recognizing and supporting family caregivers;
and
(2) biennially update, republish, and submit to the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special Committee
on Aging of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the
Workforce of the House of Representatives, and the State agencies
responsible for carrying out family caregiver programs the
Strategy, taking into account the most recent annual report
submitted under section 4(d)(1)--
(A) to reflect new developments, challenges, opportunities,
and solutions; and
(B) to review progress based on recommendations for
recognizing and supporting family caregivers in the Strategy
and, based on the results of such review, recommend priority
actions for improving the implementation of such
recommendations, as appropriate.
(e) Process for Public Input.--The Secretary shall establish a
process for public input to inform the development of, and updates to,
the Strategy, including a process for the public to submit
recommendations to the Advisory Council and an opportunity for public
comment on the proposed Strategy.
(f) No Preemption.--Nothing in this Act preempts any authority of a
State or local government to recognize or support family caregivers.
(g) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed
to permit the Secretary (through regulation, guidance, grant criteria,
or otherwise) to--
(1) mandate, direct, or control the allocation of State or
local resources;
(2) mandate the use of any of the best practices identified in
the reports required under this Act; or
(3) otherwise expand the authority of the Secretary beyond that
expressly provided to the Secretary in this Act.
SEC. 4. FAMILY CAREGIVING ADVISORY COUNCIL.
(a) Convening.--The Secretary shall convene a Family Caregiving
Advisory Council to advise and provide recommendations, including
identified best practices, to the Secretary on recognizing and
supporting family caregivers.
(b) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The members of the Advisory Council shall
consist of--
(A) the appointed members under paragraph (2); and
(B) the Federal members under paragraph (3).
(2) Appointed members.--In addition to the Federal members
under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall appoint not more than 15
voting members of the Advisory Council who are not representatives
of Federal departments or agencies and who shall include at least 1
representative of each of the following:
(A) Family caregivers.
(B) Older adults with long-term services and supports
needs.
(C) Individuals with disabilities.
(D) Health care and social service providers.
(E) Long-term services and supports providers.
(F) Employers.
(G) Paraprofessional workers.
(H) State and local officials.
(I) Accreditation bodies.
(J) Veterans.
(K) As appropriate, other experts and advocacy
organizations engaged in family caregiving.
(3) Federal members.--The Federal members of the Advisory
Council, who shall be nonvoting members, shall consist of the
following:
(A) The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (or the Administrator's designee).
(B) The Administrator of the Administration for Community
Living (or the Administrator's designee who has experience in
both aging and disability).
(C) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs (or the Secretary's
designee).
(D) The heads of other Federal departments or agencies (or
their designees), including relevant departments or agencies
that oversee labor and workforce, economic, government
financial policies, community service, and other impacted
populations, as appointed by the Secretary or the Chair of the
Advisory Council.
(4) Diverse representation.--The Secretary shall ensure that
the membership of the Advisory Council reflects the diversity of
family caregivers and individuals receiving services and supports.
(c) Meetings.--The Advisory Council shall meet quarterly during the
1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act and at
least three times during each year thereafter. Meetings of the Advisory
Council shall be open to the public.
(d) Advisory Council Annual Reports.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 12 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Advisory
Council shall submit to the Secretary, the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Special Committee on Aging
of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the
House of Representatives, and the State agencies responsible for
carrying out family caregiver programs, and make publicly available
on the internet website of the Department of Health and Human
Services, a report concerning the development, maintenance, and
updating of the Strategy, including a description of the outcomes
of the recommendations and any priorities included in the initial
report pursuant to paragraph (2), as appropriate.
(2) Initial report.--The Advisory Council's initial report
under paragraph (1) shall include--
(A) an inventory and assessment of all federally funded
efforts to recognize and support family caregivers and the
outcomes of such efforts, including analyses of the extent to
which federally funded efforts are reaching family caregivers
and gaps in such efforts;
(B) recommendations--
(i) to improve and better coordinate Federal programs
and activities to recognize and support family caregivers,
as well as opportunities to improve the coordination of
such Federal programs and activities with State programs;
and
(ii) to effectively deliver services based on the
performance, mission, and purpose of a program while
eliminating redundancies, avoiding unnecessary duplication
and overlap, and ensuring the needs of family caregivers
are met;
(C) the identification of challenges faced by family
caregivers, including financial, health, and other challenges,
and existing approaches to address such challenges; and
(D) an evaluation of how family caregiving impacts the
Medicare program, the Medicaid program, and other Federal
programs.
(e) Nonapplicability of FACA.--The Federal Advisory Committee Act
(5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Advisory Council.
SEC. 5. FUNDING.
No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
this Act. This Act shall be carried out using funds otherwise
authorized.
SEC. 6. SUNSET PROVISION.
The authority and obligations established by this Act shall
terminate on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of
this Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.