Poison Center Network Enhancement Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 501 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions AN ACT To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and enhance the poison center national toll-free number, na- tional media campaign, and grant program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 501 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Poison Center Network 2 Enhancement Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS 4 NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER. 5 Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 6 U.S.C. 300d–71) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘SEC. 1271. ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE 8 NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER AND EN- 9 HANCED COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES. 10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide co- 11 ordination and assistance to poison control centers for— 12 ‘‘(1) the development, establishment, implemen- 13 tation, and maintenance of a nationwide toll-free 14 phone number; and 15 ‘‘(2) the enhancement of communications capa- 16 bilities, which may include text capabilities. 17 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary may consult 18 with nationally recognized professional organizations in 19 the field of poison control to determine the best and most 20 effective means of achieving the goals described in para- 21 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a). 22 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In assisting with 23 public health emergencies, responses, or preparedness, 24 nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 501 RFS work of poison control centers or the use of their resources 1 by the Secretary or other governmental agencies. 2 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4 $700,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 5 SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE PUBLIC 6 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POI- 7 SON CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION. 8 Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 9 U.S.C. 300d–72) is amended to read as follows: 10 ‘‘SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 11 TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER UTI- 12 LIZATION AND THEIR PUBLIC HEALTH EMER- 13 GENCY RESPONSE CAPABILITIES. 14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 15 ‘‘(1) carry out, and expand upon, a national 16 public awareness campaign to educate the public and 17 health care providers about— 18 ‘‘(A) poisoning, toxic exposure, and drug 19 misuse prevention; and 20 ‘‘(B) the availability of poison control cen- 21 ter resources in local communities; and 22 ‘‘(2) as part of such campaign, highlight the 23 nationwide toll-free number and enhanced commu- 24 nications capabilities supported under section 1271. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 501 RFS ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out and expand- 1 ing upon the national campaign under subsection (a), the 2 Secretary may consult with nationally recognized profes- 3 sional organizations in the field of poison control response 4 for the purpose of determining the best and most effective 5 methods for achieving public awareness. 6 ‘‘(c) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may 7 carry out subsection (a) by entering into contracts with 8 one or more public or private entities, including nationally 9 recognized professional organizations in the field of poison 10 control and national media firms, for the development and 11 implementation of the awareness campaign under sub- 12 section (a), which may include— 13 ‘‘(1) the development and distribution of poi- 14 soning and toxic exposure prevention, poison control 15 center, and public health emergency awareness and 16 response materials; 17 ‘‘(2) television, radio, internet, and newspaper 18 public service announcements; and 19 ‘‘(3) other means and activities to provide for 20 public and professional awareness and education. 21 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall— 22 ‘‘(1) establish baseline measures and bench- 23 marks to quantitatively evaluate the impact of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 501 RFS nationwide public awareness campaign carried out 1 under this section; and 2 ‘‘(2) on a biennial basis, prepare and submit to 3 the appropriate committees of Congress an evalua- 4 tion of the nationwide public awareness campaign. 5 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 7 $800,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 8 SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CEN- 9 TER GRANT PROGRAM. 10 Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 11 U.S.C. 300d–73) is amended to read as follows: 12 ‘‘SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CEN- 13 TER GRANT PROGRAM. 14 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 15 shall award grants to poison control centers accredited 16 under subsection (c) (or granted a waiver under subsection 17 (d)) and nationally recognized professional organizations 18 in the field of poison control for the purposes of— 19 ‘‘(1) preventing, and providing treatment rec- 20 ommendations for, poisonings and toxic exposures 21 including opioid and drug misuse; 22 ‘‘(2) assisting with public health emergencies, 23 responses, and preparedness; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 501 RFS ‘‘(3) complying with the operational require- 1 ments needed to sustain the accreditation of the cen- 2 ter under subsection (c). 3 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL USES OF FUNDS.—In addition to 4 the purposes described in subsection (a), a poison center 5 or professional organization awarded a grant under such 6 subsection may also use amounts received under such 7 grant— 8 ‘‘(1) to research, establish, implement, and 9 evaluate best practices in the United States for poi- 10 soning prevention, poison control center outreach, 11 opioid and drug misuse information and response, 12 and public health emergency, response, and pre- 13 paredness programs; 14 ‘‘(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, 15 and communicate standard patient management 16 guidelines for commonly encountered toxic expo- 17 sures; 18 ‘‘(3) to improve national toxic exposure and 19 opioid misuse surveillance by enhancing cooperative 20 activities between poison control centers in the 21 United States and the Centers for Disease Control 22 and Prevention and other governmental agencies; 23 ‘‘(4) to research, improve, and enhance the 24 communications and response capability and capac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 501 RFS ity of the Nation’s network of poison control centers 1 to facilitate increased access to the centers through 2 the integration and modernization of the current 3 poison control centers communications and data sys- 4 tem, including enhancing the network’s telephony, 5 internet, data, and social networking technologies; 6 ‘‘(5) to develop, support, and enhance tech- 7 nology and capabilities of nationally recognized pro- 8 fessional organizations in the field of poison control 9 to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and 10 related public health data; 11 ‘‘(6) to develop initiatives to foster the en- 12 hanced public health utilization of national poison 13 data collected by such organizations; 14 ‘‘(7) to support and expand the toxicologic ex- 15 pertise within poison control centers; and 16 ‘‘(8) to improve the capacity of poison control 17 centers to answer high volumes of contacts and 18 internet communications, and to sustain and en- 19 hance the poison control center’s network capability 20 to respond during times of national crisis or other 21 public health emergencies. 22 ‘‘(c) ACCREDITATION.—Except as provided in sub- 23 section (d), the Secretary may award a grant to a poison 24 control center under subsection (a) only if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 501 RFS ‘‘(1) the center has been accredited by a nation- 1 ally recognized professional organization in the field 2 of poison control, and the Secretary has approved 3 the organization as having in effect standards for 4 accreditation that reasonably provide for the protec- 5 tion of the public health with respect to poisoning; 6 or 7 ‘‘(2) the center has been accredited by a State 8 government, and the Secretary has approved the 9 State government as having in effect standards for 10 accreditation that reasonably provide for the protec- 11 tion of the public health with respect to poisoning. 12 ‘‘(d) WAIVER OF ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant a 14 waiver of the accreditation requirements of sub- 15 section (c) with respect to a nonaccredited poison 16 control center that applies for a grant under this 17 section if such center can reasonably demonstrate 18 that the center will obtain such an accreditation 19 within a reasonable period of time as determined ap- 20 propriate by the Secretary. 21 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 22 waiver under paragraph (1). 23 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not, 24 after the date of enactment of the Poison Control 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 501 RFS Network Enhancement Act of 2019, grant to a poi- 1 son control center waivers or renewals that total 2 more than 5 years. 3 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts made 4 available to a poison control center under this section shall 5 be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, 6 State, or local funds provided for such center. 7 ‘‘(f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A poison control 8 center, in utilizing the proceeds of a grant under this sec- 9 tion, shall maintain the annual recurring expenditures of 10 the center for its activities at a level that is not less than 11 80 percent of the average level of such recurring expendi- 12 tures maintained by the center for the preceding 3 fiscal 13 years for which a grant is received. 14 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 15 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 16 $28,600,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 17 The Secretary may utilize an amount not to exceed 6 per- 18 cent of the amount appropriated pursuant to the pre- 19 ceding sentence for each fiscal year for coordination, dis- 20 semination, technical assistance, program evaluation, data 21 activities, and other program administration functions, 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 501 RFS which are determined by the Secretary to be appropriate 1 for carrying out the program under this section.’’. 2 Passed the House of Representatives February 25, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Feb 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H501.RFS H501 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS