“A bill to provide women with increased access to preventive and life-saving cancer screening.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states the purpose of the Act to increase women's access to preventive cancer screenings (including clinical breast exams and breast, cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar cancer screening), diagnostic testing, treatment, and provider education on best practices. It directs such services through leading women's health providers that serve populations most at risk of lacking preventive care and that play an outsized role in cancer prevention and detection, with the goals of reducing health disparities and mortality rates among low-income women and women of color, decreasing health care spending, and expanding health literacy.
This section states congressional findings on breast and gynecological cancers, including that breast cancer is the most common cancer among U.S. women and the leading cause of cancer death for women aged 20 to 49; an estimated 439,570 new cases will occur in 2026; mortality rates for uterine cancer are twice as high for Black women as for White women and up to 3.3 times higher for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women from cervical, stomach, and uterine cancers; and prevention, screening, and access barriers disproportionately affect women of color, rural residents, the uninsured, and transgender men.
This section establishes a grant program authorizing the Secretary to award grants and contracts to public and nonprofit private entities to expand preventive health services, including cancer screenings required under section 2713(a)(4). It directs funding toward Pap tests, HPV tests, cotests, self-collection for HPV testing, HPV vaccinations, and diagnostic tests for symptomatic women, with emphasis on increasing access for women of color. It authorizes $20 million annually for fiscal years 2027 through 2029.
This section establishes a 3-year demonstration grant program to train physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other providers in breast and gynecologic cancer screening, follow-up care, and screening for abnormal results. Grants support up-to-date clinical guidelines, a replicable training model, service in rural and underserved communities, and implicit bias and cultural competency training. Eligible recipients include entities funded under sections 1001 or 1003, essential community providers engaged in family planning, Medicaid providers, and participants in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
This section requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study (and periodically update it) on increased access to women’s preventive cancer screenings nationwide and submit a report to Congress within 2 years of enactment and every 5 years thereafter. The study must analyze breast and gynecologic cancer rates and screening uptake by state, territory, geography, income, employment, race, ethnicity, and insurance status; examine awareness, access, and outcomes for Black, Hispanic, Latina, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, older, uninsured, underinsured, and rural women; assess how structural racism affects screening and disparities; estimate federal savings from early detection; offer recommendations on expanding access to trained providers; and evaluate the human papillomavirus co-testing demonstration project.
This section establishes a 2-year demonstration project to increase cervical cancer screening co-testing for human papillomavirus and Pap tests among Black women, Hispanic and Latina women, and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women. The Secretary awards grants, with priority for entities serving low-income, uninsured, or medically underserved populations, to expand access, support culturally and linguistically appropriate delivery models, and improve related health outcomes.