[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5669 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5669
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the poison center
national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program
to provide assistance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of
poison centers, and enhance the public health of people of the United
States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 1, 2008
Mr. Towns (for himself and Mr. Terry) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the poison center
national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program
to provide assistance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of
poison centers, and enhance the public health of people of the United
States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Poison Center Support, Enhancement,
and Awareness Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Poison centers are the primary defense of the United
States against injury and deaths from poisoning. Twenty-four
hours a day, the general public as well as health care
practitioners contact their local poison centers for help in
diagnosing and treating victims of poisoning. In 2007, more
than 4 million calls were managed by poison centers providing
ready and direct access for all people of the United States,
including many underserved populations in the United States,
with vital emergency public health information and response.
(2) Poisoning is the second most common form of
unintentional death in the United States. In any given year,
there will be between 3 million and 5 million poison exposures.
Sixty percent of these exposures will involve children under
the age of 6 who are exposed to toxins in their home. Poisoning
accounts for 285,000 hospitalizations, 1.2 million days of
acute hospital care, and more than 26,000 fatalities in 2005.
(3) In 2008, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center
reported that poisonings from accidents and unknown
circumstances more than tripled in rate since 1990. In 2005,
the last year for which data are available, 26,858 people died
from accidental or unknown poisonings. This represents an
increase of 20,000 since 1990 and an increase of 2,400 between
2004 and 2005. Fatalities from poisoning are increasing in the
United States in near epidemic proportions. The funding of
programs to reverse this trend is needed now more than ever.
(4) In 2004, The Institute of Medicine, of the National
Academies recommended that the ``Congress should amend the
current Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act
Amendments of 2003 to provide sufficient funding to support the
proposed Poison Prevention and Control System with its national
network of poison centers. Support for the core activities at
the current level of service is estimated to require more than
$100 million annually.''.
(5) Sustaining the funding structure and increasing
accessibility to poison control centers will promote the
utilization of poison control centers and reduce the
inappropriate use of emergency medical services and other more
costly health care services. The 2004 Institute of Medicine
Report to Congress determined that for every $1 invested in the
Nation's poison centers $7 of health care costs are saved. In
2005, direct Federal health care program savings totaled in
excess of $525 million as the result of poison center public
health services.
(6) More than 30 percent of the cost savings and financial
benefits of the Nation's network of poison centers are realized
annually by Federal health care programs (estimated to be more
than $1 billion), yet Federal funding support (as demonstrated
by the annual authorization of $30.1 million in Public Law 108-
194) comprises less than 11 percent of the annual network
expenditures of poison centers.
(7) Real-time data collected from the Nation's certified
poison centers can be an important source of information for
the detection, monitoring, and response for contamination of
the air, water, pharmaceutical, or food supply.
(8) In the event of a terrorist event, poison centers will
be relied upon as a critical source for accurate medical
information and public health emergency response concerning the
treatment of patients who have had an exposure to a chemical,
radiological, or biological agent.
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CENTERS NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.
Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-71)
is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 1271. MAINTENANCE OF THE NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall provide coordination and
assistance to poison centers for the establishment of a nationwide
toll-free phone number, and the maintenance of such number, to be used
to access such centers.
``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2009
to carry out this section; and $1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years
2010 through 2014 for the maintenance of the nationwide toll-free phone
number under subsection (a).''.
SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON
CENTER UTILIZATION.
(a) In General.--Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 300d-72) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CENTER
UTILIZATION.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out, and expand upon,
a national media campaign to educate the public and health care
providers about poison prevention and the availability of poison center
resources in local communities and to conduct advertising campaigns
concerning the nationwide toll-free number established under section
1271(a).
``(b) Contract With Entity.--The Secretary may carry out subsection
(a) by entering into contracts with a nationally recognized
organization in the field of poison control for the development and
implementation of a nationwide poison prevention and poison center
awareness campaign, which may include the development and distribution
of poison prevention and poison center awareness materials; television,
radio, Internet, and newspaper public service announcements; and other
means of public and professional awareness and education.
``(c) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
``(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to
quantitatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide media
campaign carried out under this section; and
``(2) prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional
committees an evaluation of the nationwide media campaign on an
annual basis.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $600,000 for each of the fiscal
years 2000 through 2005, such sums as may be necessary for each of the
fiscal years 2006 through 2009, and $1,500,000 for each of the fiscal
years 2010 through 2014.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall be
effective as of the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply
to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2009.
SEC. 5. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 300d-73) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.
``(a) Authorization of Grant Program.--The Secretary shall award
grants to poison centers certified under subsection (c) (or granted a
waiver under subsection (d)) and professional organizations in the
field of poison control for the purposes of preventing, and providing
treatment recommendations for, poisonings and complying with the
operational requirements needed to sustain the certification of the
center under subsection (c).
``(b) Additional Uses of Grant Funds.--In addition to the purposes
described in subsection (a), a poison center or professional
organization awarded a grant under such subsection may also use such
grant for the following purposes:
``(1) To establish and evaluate best practices in the
United States for poison prevention, poison center outreach,
and emergency and preparedness programs.
``(2) To research, develop, implement, revise, and
communicate standard patient management guidelines for commonly
encountered toxic exposures.
``(3) To improve national toxic exposure surveillance by
enhancing cooperative activities between poison centers in the
United States and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
``(4) To develop, support, and enhance technology and
capabilities of professional organizations in the field of
poison control to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence,
and related public health data.
``(5) To develop initiatives to foster the enhanced public
health utilization of national poison data collected by
organizations described in paragraph (4).
``(6) To support and expand the toxicologic expertise
within poison centers.
``(7) To improve the capacity of poison centers to answer
high volumes of calls and respond during times of national
crisis or other public health emergencies.
``(c) Certification.--Except as provided under subsection (d), the
Secretary may make a grant to a poison center under subsection (a) only
if--
``(1) the center has been certified by a professional
organization in the field of poison control, and the Secretary
has approved the organization as having in effect standards for
certification that reasonably provide for the protection of the
public health with respect to poisoning; or
``(2) the center has been certified by a State government,
and the Secretary has approved the State government as having
in effect standards for certification that reasonably provide
for the protection of the public health with respect to
poisoning.
``(d) Waiver of Certification Requirements.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary may grant a waiver of the
certification requirement of subsection (c) with respect to a
noncertified poison center that applies for a grant under this
section if such center can reasonably demonstrate that the
center will obtain such a certification within a reasonable
period of time as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
``(2) Renewal.--The Secretary may renew a waiver under
paragraph (1).
``(3) Limitation.--In no instance may the sum of the number
of years for a waiver under paragraph (1) and a renewal under
paragraph (2) exceed 5 years. The preceding sentence shall take
effect as of the date of the enactment of the Poison Center
Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008.
``(e) Supplement Not Supplant.--Amounts made available to a poison
center under this section shall be used to supplement and not supplant
other Federal, State, or local funds provided for such center.
``(f) Maintenance of Effort.--A poison center, in utilizing the
proceeds of a grant under this section, shall maintain the expenditures
of the center for activities of the center at a level that is not less
than the level of expenditures maintained by the center for the fiscal
year preceding the fiscal year for which the grant is received.
``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section--
``(1) for each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004,
$25,000,000;
``(2) for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009,
$27,500,000; and
``(3) for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014,
$35,000,000, of which $1,500,000 shall be used to award grants
for the purpose described in subsection (b)(4).''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall be
effective as of the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply
to grants made on or after January 1, 2009.
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