Department of Energy Veterans’ Health Initiative Act

II Calendar No. 344 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 617 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 24, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources DECEMBER 17, 2019 Reported by Ms. MURKOWSKI, without amendment AN ACT 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy 4 Veterans’ Health Initiative Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 617 RS (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 1 means the Department of Energy. 2 (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na- 3 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term 4 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 5 U.S.C. 15801). 6 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 7 the Secretary of Energy. 8 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 9 The purposes of this Act are to advance Department 10 of Energy expertise in artificial intelligence and high-per- 11 formance computing in order to improve health outcomes 12 for veteran populations by— 13 (1) supporting basic research through the appli- 14 cation of artificial intelligence, high-performance 15 computing, modeling and simulation, machine learn- 16 ing, and large-scale data analytics to identify and 17 solve outcome-defined challenges in the health 18 sciences; 19 (2) maximizing the impact of the Department 20 of Veterans Affairs’ health and genomics data 21 housed at the National Laboratories, as well as data 22 from other sources, on science, innovation, and 23 health care outcomes through the use and advance- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 617 RS ment of artificial intelligence and high-performance 1 computing capabilities of the Department of Energy; 2 (3) promoting collaborative research through 3 the establishment of partnerships to improve data 4 sharing between Federal agencies, National Labora- 5 tories, institutions of higher education, and non- 6 profit institutions; 7 (4) establishing multiple scientific computing 8 user facilities to house and provision available data 9 to foster transformational outcomes; and 10 (5) driving the development of technology to im- 11 prove artificial intelligence, high-performance com- 12 puting, and networking relevant to mission applica- 13 tions of the Department of Energy, including mod- 14 eling, simulation, machine learning, and advanced 15 data analytics. 16 SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY VETERANS HEALTH RE- 17 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish and 19 carry out a research program in artificial intelligence and 20 high-performance computing, focused on the development 21 of tools to solve big data challenges associated with vet- 22 eran’s healthcare, and to support the efforts of the De- 23 partment of Veterans Affairs to identify potential health 24 risks and challenges utilizing data on long-term health- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 617 RS care, health risks, and genomic data collected from veteran 1 populations. The Secretary shall carry out this program 2 through a competitive, merit-reviewed process, and con- 3 sider applications from National Laboratories, institutions 4 of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, and 5 other appropriate entities. 6 (b) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the 7 program established under subsection (a), the Secretary 8 may— 9 (1) conduct basic research in modeling and sim- 10 ulation, machine learning, large-scale data analytics, 11 and predictive analysis in order to develop novel or 12 optimized algorithms for prediction of disease treat- 13 ment and recovery; 14 (2) develop methods to accommodate large data 15 sets with variable quality and scale, and to provide 16 insight and models for complex systems; 17 (3) develop new approaches and maximize the 18 use of algorithms developed through artificial intel- 19 ligence, machine learning, data analytics, natural 20 language processing, modeling and simulation, and 21 develop new algorithms suitable for high-perform- 22 ance computing systems and large biomedical data 23 sets; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 617 RS (4) advance existing and construct new data en- 1 claves capable of securely storing data sets provided 2 by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department 3 of Defense, and other sources; and 4 (5) promote collaboration and data sharing be- 5 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 6 user facilities of the Department by providing the 7 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili- 8 ties. 9 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the program re- 10 quired under subsection (a), the Secretary is authorized 11 to— 12 (1) enter into memoranda of understanding in 13 order to carry out reimbursable agreements with the 14 Department of Veterans Affairs and other entities in 15 order to maximize the effectiveness of Department 16 of Energy research and development to improve vet- 17 erans’ healthcare; 18 (2) consult with the Department of Veterans 19 Affairs and other Federal agencies as appropriate; 20 and 21 (3) ensure that data storage meets all privacy 22 and security requirements established by the Depart- 23 ment of Veterans Affairs, and that access to data is 24 provided in accordance with relevant Department of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 617 RS Veterans Affairs data access policies, including in- 1 formed consent. 2 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 3 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 4 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and 5 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep- 6 resentatives, and the Committee on Energy and Natural 7 Resources and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 8 Senate, a report detailing the effectiveness of— 9 (1) the interagency coordination between each 10 Federal agency involved in the research program 11 carried out under this section; 12 (2) collaborative research achievements of the 13 program; and 14 (3) potential opportunities to expand the tech- 15 nical capabilities of the Department. 16 (e) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be appro- 17 priated to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out 18 this section $27,000,000 during the period of fiscal years 19 2020 through 2024. 20 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY COLLABORATION. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to 22 carry out research, development, and demonstration activi- 23 ties to develop tools to apply to big data that enable Fed- 24 eral agencies, institutions of higher education, nonprofit 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 617 RS research organizations, and industry to better leverage the 1 capabilities of the Department to solve complex, big data 2 challenges. The Secretary shall carry out these activities 3 through a competitive, merit-reviewed process, and con- 4 sider applications from National Laboratories, institutions 5 of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, and 6 other appropriate entities. 7 (b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the research, devel- 8 opment, and demonstration activities authorized under 9 subsection (a), the Secretary may— 10 (1) utilize all available mechanisms to prevent 11 duplication and coordinate research efforts across 12 the Department; 13 (2) establish multiple user facilities to serve as 14 data enclaves capable of securely storing data sets 15 created by Federal agencies, institutions of higher 16 education, nonprofit organizations, or industry at 17 National Laboratories; and 18 (3) promote collaboration and data sharing be- 19 tween National Laboratories, research entities, and 20 user facilities of the Department by providing the 21 necessary access and secure data transfer capabili- 22 ties. 23 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 24 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 617 RS to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 1 the House of Representatives and the Committee on En- 2 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report evalu- 3 ating the effectiveness of the activities authorized under 4 subsection (a). 5 (d) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be appro- 6 priated to the Secretary of Energy to carry out subsection 7 (a) $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2020 through 8 2023. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS Calendar No. 344 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 617 AN ACT 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. DECEMBER 17, 2019 Reported without amendment VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H617.RS H617 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS