December 31, 2018
On December 31, 2018, the President signed into law the SOAR to Health and Wellness Act of 2018
(PDF). This law permanently authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to establish and conduct the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Training Program. In addition, this law authorizes HHS to award grants to implement the training, and sets forth data collection and reporting requirements for the program.
This legislation includes the following authorizations related to HHS:
- Section 2
- Directs HHS to establish the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (SOAR) to Health and Wellness Training Program to provide health care and social service providers for training on human trafficking
- The program includes currently existing SOAR activities, as well as the following authorized initiatives:
- Engaging stakeholders, including trafficking victims, to develop a training module
- Providing technical assistance to grantees
- Developing a reliable methodology to collect data on the number of trafficking victims identified and served by grantees
- Integrating the training
- Authorizes HHS to award grants to entities to implement the training
- Instructs HHS when awarding grants to consider geography, demographics of the population to be served, predominant types of human trafficking cases involved, and health care and social service provider profiles.
- Outlines data collection and reporting requirements, including:
- Requires HHS to collect data on the total number of entities that receive grants and the total number and geographic distribution of professionals trained through the program
- For the purposes of the initial report, HHS should also collect data on the total number of facilities and service provider organizations that were operating under, and the number of providers trained through, the SOAR program
- No later than one year after this bill is passed, and annually thereafter, HHS is required to submit an annual report to Congress on the data collected under these requirements
- Requires HHS to make a description of best practices and procedures utilized by entities that receive a grant under this program publicly available on the HHS website
- Authorizes appropriations of $4 million per FY 2020-2024 to implement the program