Department of Energy Veterans’ Health Initiative Act

II Calendar No. 172 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 143 [Report No. 116–70] To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collaborative research with the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare services for veterans in the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 16, 2019 Ms. ERNST (for herself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. KING, Mr. HEINRICH, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat- ural Resources AUGUST 16, 2019 Reported under authority of the order of the Senate of August 1, 2019, by Ms. MURKOWSKI, without amendment A BILL To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collabo- rative research with the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare services for veterans in the United States, 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 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 143 RS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy 2 Veterans’ Health Initiative Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 6 means the Department of Energy. 7 (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na- 8 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term 9 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 10 U.S.C. 15801). 11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of Energy. 13 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 14 The purposes of this Act are to advance Department 15 of Energy expertise in artificial intelligence and high-per- 16 formance computing in order to improve health outcomes 17 for veteran populations by— 18 (1) supporting basic research through the appli- 19 cation of artificial intelligence, high-performance 20 computing, modeling and simulation, machine learn- 21 ing, and large scale data analytics to identify and 22 solve outcome-defined challenges in the health 23 sciences; 24 (2) maximizing the impact of the Department 25 of Veterans Affairs’ health and genomics data 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 143 RS housed at the National Laboratories, as well as data 1 from other sources, on science, innovation, and 2 health care outcomes through the use and advance- 3 ment of artificial intelligence and high-performance 4 computing capabilities of the Department of Energy; 5 (3) promoting collaborative research through 6 the establishment of partnerships to improve data 7 sharing between Federal agencies, National Labora- 8 tories, institutions of higher education, and non- 9 profit institutions; 10 (4) establishing multiple scientific computing 11 user facilities to house and provision available data 12 to foster transformational outcomes; and 13 (5) driving the development of technology to im- 14 prove artificial intelligence, high-performance com- 15 puting, and networking relevant to mission applica- 16 tions of the Department of Energy, including mod- 17 eling, simulation, machine learning, and advanced 18 data analytics. 19 SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY VETERANS HEALTH RE- 20 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 22 carry out a research program in artificial intelligence and 23 high-performance computing, focused on the development 24 of tools to solve big data challenges associated with vet- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 143 RS eran’s healthcare, and to support the efforts of the De- 1 partment of Veterans Affairs to identify potential health 2 risks and challenges utilizing data on long-term health- 3 care, health risks, and genomic data collected from veteran 4 populations. The Secretary shall carry out this program 5 through a competitive, merit-reviewed process, and con- 6 sider applications from National Laboratories, institutions 7 of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, and 8 other appropriate entities. 9 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 10 program established under subsection (a), the Secretary 11 may— 12 (1) conduct basic research in modeling and sim- 13 ulation, machine learning, large scale data analytics, 14 and predictive analysis in order to develop novel or 15 optimized algorithms for prediction of disease treat- 16 ment and recovery; 17 (2) develop methods to accommodate large data 18 sets with variable quality and scale, and to provide 19 insight and models for complex systems; 20 (3) develop new approaches and maximize the 21 use of algorithms developed through artificial intel- 22 ligence, machine learning, data analytics, natural 23 language processing, modeling and simulation, and 24 develop new algorithms suitable for high-perform- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 143 RS ance computing systems and large biomedical data 1 sets; 2 (4) advance existing and construct new data en- 3 claves capable of securely storing data sets provided 4 by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department 5 of Defense, and other sources; and 6 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be- 7 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 8 user facilities of the Department by providing the 9 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili- 10 ties. 11 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the program re- 12 quired under subsection (a), the Secretary is authorized 13 to— 14 (1) enter into memoranda of understanding in 15 order to carry out reimbursable agreements with the 16 Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities in 17 order to maximize the effectiveness of Department 18 of Energy research and development to improve vet- 19 erans’ healthcare; 20 (2) consult with the Department of Veterans 21 Affairs and other Federal agencies as appropriate; 22 and 23 (3) ensure that data storage meets all privacy 24 and security requirements established by the Depart- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 143 RS ment of Veterans Affairs, and that access to data is 1 provided in accordance with relevant Department of 2 Veterans Affairs data access policies, including in- 3 formed consent. 4 (d) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 5 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 6 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and 7 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep- 8 resentatives, and the Committee on Energy and Natural 9 Resources and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 10 Senate, a report detailing the effectiveness of— 11 (1) the interagency coordination between each 12 Federal agency involved in the research program 13 carried out under this section; 14 (2) collaborative research achievements of the 15 program; and 16 (3) potential opportunities to expand the tech- 17 nical capabilities of the Department. 18 (e) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 19 shall allocate up to $27,000,000 during the period of fiscal 20 years 2019 through 2023 to carry out this section, subject 21 to the availability of appropriations. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 143 RS SEC. 5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA ANALYTICS, AND 1 COMPUTATIONAL RESEARCH PILOT PRO- 2 GRAM. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 4 pilot program to develop tools for big data analytics by 5 utilizing data sets generated by Federal agencies, institu- 6 tions of higher education, nonprofit research organiza- 7 tions, and industry in order to advance artificial intel- 8 ligence technologies to solve complex, big data challenges. 9 The Secretary shall carry out this program through a com- 10 petitive, merit-reviewed process, and consider applications 11 from National Laboratories, institutions of higher edu- 12 cation, multi-institutional collaborations, and other appro- 13 priate entities. 14 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 15 pilot program established under subsection (a), the Sec- 16 retary may— 17 (1) establish a cross-cutting research initiative 18 to prevent duplication and coordinate research ef- 19 forts in artificial intelligence and data analytics 20 across the Department; 21 (2) conduct basic research in modeling and sim- 22 ulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, 23 large scale data analytics, natural language proc- 24 essing, and predictive analysis in order to develop 25 novel or optimized predictive algorithms suitable for 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 143 RS high-performance computing systems and large bio- 1 medical data sets; 2 (3) develop multivariate optimization models to 3 accommodate large data sets with variable quality 4 and scale in order to visualize complex systems; 5 (4) establish multiple scientific computing user 6 facilities to serve as data enclaves capable of se- 7 curely storing data sets created by Federal agencies, 8 institutions of higher education, nonprofit organiza- 9 tions, or industry at National Laboratories; and 10 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be- 11 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 12 user facilities of the Department by providing the 13 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili- 14 ties. 15 (c) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 16 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 17 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 18 the House of Representatives and the Committee on En- 19 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report evalu- 20 ating the effectiveness of the pilot program under sub- 21 section (a), including basic research discoveries achieved 22 in the course of the program and potential opportunities 23 to expand the technical capabilities of the Department 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 143 RS through the development of artificial intelligence and data 1 analytics technologies. 2 (d) FUNDING.—The Secretary of Energy shall allo- 3 cate up to $26,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 and 4 2020 to carry out this section, subject to the availability 5 of appropriations. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 172 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 143 [Report No. 116–70] A BILL To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collaborative research with the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare services for veterans in the United States, and for other purposes. AUGUST 16, 2019 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:50 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S143.RS S143 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS