ACA Now

Implementation Status

2013

Prior to January 2013, HHS awarded several funds pursuant to appropriations allocated to the broader Fund.  Per an update published by HHS as of February 14, 2012, HHS funded $1.25 billion in grants through the federal Fund appropriation (see here).  Pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, HHS has also documented information on the FY 2012 planned use of funds, funding opportunities, and the recipients of awards under this funding stream (see here).  In the fall of 2012, the GAO published a report delineating FY 2010-2011 activities conducted pursuant to the Fund.

On April 17, 2013, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced—by a vote of 27 to 20—H.R. 1549, legislation to transfer approximately $4 billion from the Prevention and Public Health Fund to Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) in order to provide insurance coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions through 2014. This legislation would also eliminate the requirement that individuals go uninsured for six months as a condition of eligibility for PCIP.

On May 16, the CDC issued a notice pertaining to a needs assessment and evaluation of the Work@Health Program, which is authorized by the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) and funded through the Prevention and Public Health Fund of the ACA.  Also, on May 14, the
Administration for Community Living (ACL) issued a new grant opportunity entitled, “National Resource Center on Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Programs” funded using section 4002 authority.  Applications are due June 17.

On June 10, the CDC announced that it had leveraged funding under this section to support the award of 104 employers under the National Healthy Worksite Program.

On August 8, 2013, the CDC posted a grant opportunity titled, “Immunization Increasing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Coverage Rates among Adolescents” using 2013 PPHF funds.  LOIs were due August 16; applications are due 5pm EST on September 9. Also, on August 29, the CDC published a notice announcing a proposed data collection and solicitation of comments for message testing tobacco communication activities.  These activities tie-in with the broader PPHF-backed tobacco education campaign.  Comments are due within 60 days of publication, putting the deadline for comments on or around October 28, 2013.

In early September, ACF revised a previously-posted grant opportunity regarding continued funding of the National Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention/Adult Protective Services Resource Center, which according to the agency, is financed by 2013 PPHF funds.  Applications were due by September 16, 2013.

On Nov. 14, 2013, the CDC today issued an information collection in which it seeks comments on a proposed new online tool – the CDC Worksite Health Scorecard – funded by ACA PPHF dollars that is “designed to help employers assess whether they have implemented evidence-based health promotion interventions or strategies in their worksites to prevent heart disease, stroke, and related conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.”  Comments on the proposed undertaking are due within 60 days of the publication of this notice, putting the deadline somewhere on or around January 4, 2014.

2014

On March 4, 2014, the CDC issued a grant solicitation entitled, “OSTLTS Partnerships Building Capacity of the Public Health System to Improve Population Health through National, Nonprofit Organizations,” which the agency indicated is financed in part by 2013 PPHF funds. On March 14, the CDC issued a grants notice announcing the partial availability of 2014 PPHF funds to support the following opportunity, “Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (ELC) – Building and Strengthening Epidemiology, Laboratory and Health Information Systems Capacity in State and Local Health Departments.”

On May 30, 2014, the CDC awarded $19.5 million to support Prevention Research Centers in their focus on health disparities work.

On June 26, 2014, the Administration for Community Living published a notice pertaining to a proposed information collection that would monitor grants  provided to entities, via PPHF funds, to implement evidence-based falls prevention programs.

On July 1, 2014, AHRQ released a report on the safety of commonly used vaccines finding strong evidence that serious adverse events are rare.

On July 9, 2014, the CDC allocated $40 million for organizations, state and local government agencies, non-profits, educational institutions and other working to build capacity to strengthen public health immunization infrastructure and performance. Applications are due August 21, 2014.

On July 10, 2014, the USPSTF released a compendium of recommendations intended to assist primary care providers in their clinical decisions regarding preventive services.

On July 14, 2014, the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council released its first annual National Prevention Strategy report focused on the work of 20 Federal departments and agencies that are working to improve the health of Americans at every stage of life.

July 15, 2014, under a new, three-year initiative known as “Partnerships for Care: Health Departments and Health Centers Collaborating to Improve HIV Health Outcomes,” HRSA announced an $11M grant opportunity that aims to drive integrated HIV/AIDS care through community health center collaboration with public health departments in NY, MA, FL and MD. Eligible health centers must apply by 5pm ET on August 12, 2014.

On July 17, 2014, the CDC announced it was conducting an information collection on newly-proposed project titled, “Monitoring and Reporting System for the Division of Community Health’s Cooperative Agreement Programs National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).” Specifically, the CDC has three new cooperating agreement programs to address chronic diseases and risk factors for chronic diseases. Comments are due within 60 days of publication, putting the deadline for comments on or around September 17, 2014.

On Sept. 25, the CDC announced the award of $212 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 grants to support chronic disease prevention and health promotion initiatives across the country. The 193 total awards announced today, which are supported in part through Affordable Care Act (ACA) funds, will be used by states, localities, national and community organizations, and other eligible entities to focus on the following 3 broad goals: (1) reduce rates of death and disability due to tobacco use; (2) reduce prevalence of obesity; and (3) reduce rates of death and disability due to diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

On October 17, 2014, the CDC announced $2 million in grant funding to support the response to Ebola outbreak. Eligible Ministries of Health and their bona fide agents should apply by October 23, 2014. The “the funding will support the impacted countries and the surrounding countries to combat this health crisis. This funding will target the following countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria to support the responses of the CDC to the outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa. In addition, the funding will support the U.S. efforts to provide unified mobilization to address a crisis of this magnitude.

On October 20, 2014, the CDC announced $1.8 million to respond Ebola outbreak for the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET). The CDC explained that “the funding will support the impacted countries and the surrounding countries to combat this health crisis. This funding will target the following countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria to support the responses of the CDC to the outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa. In addition, the funding “will enable the U.S. to provide unified mobilization to address a crisis of this magnitude [and] to build partnerships and strengthen existing projects to respond to Ebola. The CDC and its partners will help to address the need for surveillance, detection, coordination, response, and increase eligible governments’ capacity to respond to the Ebola outbreak.” For this grant, the CDC has waived the electronic submission requirement the application is available here.

On Nov. 5, the CDC released data showing that that in 2012, about eight million women ages 21 to 65 years have not been screened for cervical cancer in the past five years. Uninsured women were more likely to have gone without screening. The agency stressed that under the ACA preventive services like cervical cancer screenings should be covered without additional cost in an effort to increase screening.

On Nov. 25, SAMHSA released a report finding that only about 1 in 4 mental health treatment facilities offer services to quit smoking. The study found that the provision of smoking cessation services varied considerably by the facility treatment setting. For example, 57.1 percent of inpatient only programs provided smoking cessation services, compared to only 17.0 percent of outpatient only programs. People with mental illness have higher rates of tobacco use and other risk factors that at increased risk for early mortality. The goal of the Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration program is to improve the physical health status of adults with serious mental illnesses who have or are at risk for co-occurring primary care conditions and chronic diseases.

On Nov. 26, the CDC released a report finding that the cigarette smoking rate among adults in the U.S. dropped from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 17.8 percent in 2013.

2015

On Jan. 13, 2015, CDC submitted a proposed information collection request to OMB. The proposed study would collect information from the Division of Community Health (DCH) regarding ”electronic Policy, Environment, Programmatic, and Infrastructure Database (PEPID) designed to enable the accurate, reliable, uniform and timely submission to CDC of each [DCH and CDC 93] awardee’s work plan and progress reports.”

On Apr. 29, CDC released a funding opportunity titled, PPHF 2015: Asian Language Tobacco Quitline, which is focused solely by 2015PPHF funds.

On May 6, ACL issued a funding opportunity pertaining to the Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative – Specialized Supportive Services (ADI-SSS) Project, which was financed solely by 2015 PPHF funds. Applications are due July 6.

On May 8, CDC issued a funding opportunity titled, “Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Base Activities – State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health,” which was partially financed by 2015 PPHF funds. CDC notes that “[t]his award will be a continuation of funds intended only for grantees previously awarded under DP13-1305: State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health” (those details). Applications are due June 8.

On May 12, CDC issued a funding opportunity titled, “CDC Partnership: Strengthening Public Health Laboratories,” which was partially financed by 2015 PPHF funds. Applications were due May 26.

On May 15, CDC issued a notice announcing the continuation of funding titled, “Tobacco Use Prevention – Public Health Approaches for Ensuring Quitline Capacity,” which was financed solely by 2015 PPHF funds. Applications are due June 12.

On June 18, Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), joined by 11 Senate Democrats, spearheaded a letter detailing the ways in which the PPHF have led to improvements in the health of women and families. Also, on June 2, CDC issued a notice of a closed meeting held on June 23 pertaining to the initial review of applications in response to a funding opportunity titled, “PPHF-2015 – Enhanced Surveillance for New Vaccine Preventable Disease – A Program Expansion for Acute Respiratory Illness Surveillance.” This opportunity is financed solely by 2015 PPHF funds.

On July 3, CDC issued a modification to a funding opportunity titled, “Immunization – Utilization of Immunization Information Systems (IIS) for Assessment, Feedback, Incentives, and eXchange (AFIX) Assessments,” solely financed by FY 15 PPHF dollars

On July 14, CDC issued a modification to a funding opportunity titled, “Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grants – Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (Pacific Jurisdictions),” partly financed by FY 15 PPHF dollars.

On July 17, CDC issued a continuation of an existing cooperative agreement titled, “Immunization-Capacity Building Assistance for Infrastructure Enhancements to Meet Interoperability Requirements,” partly financed by FY 15 PPHF dollars.

On July 22, CDC issued a continuation of a limited funding opportunity titled, “Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers; Special Interest Projects,” partly financed by FY 15 PPHF dollars.

On July 27, CDC issued a funding opportunity pertaining to Prevention Research Centers (PRCs), partly financed by FY 15 PPHF dollars.

2016

On Jan. 19, 2016, CDC announced a continuation of a cooperative agreement titled, “State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity, and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health,” partly financed by FY 2016 Prevention and Public Health Funds.

February: A number of recent grant opportunities were posted that were financed solely or partly with Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) dollars, namely: (1) ACL National Falls Prevention Resource Center Grant (details; applications due Apr. 13, 2016); (2) CDC Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support (OSTLTS) Partnerships – Building Capacity of the Public Health System to Improve Population Health through National, Nonprofit Organization (details; applications due Mar. 30, 2016); (3) CDC Immunization –Improving Immunization Rates and Enhancing Disease Prevention through Partnerships with Providers and National Organizations that focus on Public Health (details; applications due May 30, 2016); and (4) ACL Empowering Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities through Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Programs (details; applications due Apr. 6, 2016).

The following grant opportunities were financed solely or in part with PPHF dollars: (1) “Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program – Emergency Funding for Puerto Rico Department of Health, Zika virus Outbreak for Infectious Diseases (ELC)” (details); (2) “Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)” for which applications are due May 6, 2016 (details); (3) and “Immunization Grants-HPV Roundtable: Creating a National Network of Partners to Promote Cancer Prevention through Human” for which applications are due June 3, 2016 (details).

May: The following grant opportunities were financed solely or in part with PPHF dollars: (1) “Increasing HPV Vaccine Coverage by Strengthening Adolescent AFIX Activities,” for which applications are due July 7, 2016 (details); (2) “Immunization Grants-CDC Partnership: Strengthening Public Health Laboratories,” for which applications are due July 21, 2016 (details); (3) “PPHF Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program – U.S. Platform to Measure Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness against Laboratory-confirmed Influenza-associated Hospitalizations,” for which applications are due June 24, 2016 (details); (4) “Immunization Grants – Immunization and Vaccines for Children Program,” for which applications are due July 11, 2016 (details); and the (5) “Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative – Specialized Supportive Services (ADI-SSS) Project,” for which applications are due July 24, 2016 (details).

June: The following grant opportunities were financed solely or in part with PPHF dollars: (1) “Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant,” for which applications were due June 24, 2016 (details); (2) “Immunization Grants – Enhanced Surveillance for New Vaccine Preventable Diseases,” for which applications were due June 21, 2016 (details).

July: The following grant opportunity was financed in part with PPHF dollars: (1) “Immunization Grants-CDC Partnership: Strengthening Public Health Laboratories,” for which applications are due Sept. 19, 2016. Details here.

November: The CDC announced a continuation grant for grantees previously awarded under the “Immunization and Vaccines for Children Program.”

In December 2016, CDC announced a continuation grant opportunity related to capacity building assistance to strengthen public health immunization infrastructure and performance. Applications were accepted through Jan. 6, 2017.

2017

In February 2017, CDC announced a $32 million immunization grant opportunity to strengthen public health laboratories. Grant applications are due Apr. 28, 2017 and individual awards are capped at $250,000.

In March 2017, a grant was announces within the Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative – Specialized Support Services (ADI-SSS) project to support public and private entities working within existing, dementia-capable, long term services and supports systems and are committed to serving populations with the most need and living with or at risk of developing Alzheimers disease or a related dementia and their caregivers. Applications are due June 1, 2017. A total of slightly more than $10 million is available and grants are capped at $1 million each.

In May, the CDC announced a discretionary cooperative agreement funding opportunities entitled, “Alzheimer’s Disease Initiative – Specialized Supportive Services.”  The funding opportunity is open to community-based organizations working within an existing, dementia-capable, long-term services and supports system that have not been previous recipients of this award. Applications are due on July 14, 2017.

In May, the CDC also announced a supplemental funding opportunity for the 26 national, nonprofit organizations that previously were awarded under the CDC-RFA-OT13-1302 FOA.  The funding opportunity is entitled, “Building Capacity of the Public Health System to Improve Population Health through National, Nonprofit Organizations” and applications are due July 12, 2017.

In July, the CDC announced a discretionary cooperative agreement funding opportunity titled, “Building Public Health Infrastructure in Tribal Communities to Accelerate Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Indian Country.” Eligible applicants included only American Indian or Alaska Native Tribal Epidemiology Centers (TECs). Applications were due on Aug. 7.

In July, the CDC also announced a discretionary cooperative agreement funding opportunity for non-profit applicants titled, “Strengthening the Public Health System in the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands.” Applications were due Aug. 31.

In December, the President signed a continuing resolution eliminating $750 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund over four years (FYs 2019-22).

2018

In February, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 cut $1.35 billion from the Fund over six years (FY 2022 and FYs 2024-27).