I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3679 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the position of National 

Nurse for Public Health. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 15, 2011 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. KING of New York, 

Ms. SPEIER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. 

WELCH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. OLVER, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. 

MCDERMOTT, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. 

HONDA, and Mr. HOLT) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the 

position of National Nurse for Public Health. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Nurse Act 

5 of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

2 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 300u et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1711. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 

8 the Office of the Surgeon General a full-time posi9 tion, to be filled by registered nurse to be known as 

10 the National Nurse for Public Health. 

11 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—Except for the initial ap12 pointment of the National Nurse for Public Health 

13 under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall appoint the 

14 National Nurse for Public Health in accordance with 

15 Commissioned Corps Instruction CC23.4.6 (relating 

16 to Chief Professional Officer Nominations), as in ef17 fect on February 13, 2008. 

18 ‘‘(3) INITIAL APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 

19 30 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

20 the Secretary shall appoint the individual serving as 

21 the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service 

22 as of the date of the enactment of this section as the 

23 first National Nurse for Public Health. 

24 ‘‘(b) RANK AND GRADE.—The National Nurse for 

25 Public Health shall have the same rank and grade as the 

26 Deputy Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health 

2 shall carry out the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

4 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

5 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

6 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro7 viding representation for the Government of the 

8 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

9 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

10 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

11 ‘‘(2) Represent the Surgeon General and the 

12 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

13 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

14 issues at the local, State, national, and international 

15 levels. 

16 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur17 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

18 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit19 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

20 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

21 of the Public Health Service. 

22 ‘‘(4) Conduct media campaigns and make per23 sonal appearances for purposes of paragraphs (5) 

24 through (7). 


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1 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi2 ties to promote the public health, including encour3 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

4 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

5 public about and engage the public in prevention 

6 practices to achieve better health. 

7 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour8 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

9 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

10 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

11 future nurses. 

12 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi13 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

14 preparedness. 

15 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—HEALTHY

16 PEOPLE 2020.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Nurse for 

18 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen19 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen20 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga21 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

22 participate in the identification of national health 

23 priorities. 

24 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR25 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 


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1 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

2 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

3 strengthen the relationship between Government 

4 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

5 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

7 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

8 for Public Health shall— 

9 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

10 on recommended activities to organiza11 tions; 

12 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

13 and encourage their replication; 

14 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

15 evidence-based practice in educating the 

16 public on health promotion and disease 

17 prevention activities; 

18 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

19 other health professionals, including retired 

20 health professionals and students enrolled 

21 in health professional programs, to partici22 pate in health promotion activities and rep23 licate successful health promotion activi24 ties; and 


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1 ‘‘(v) monitor activities being con2 ducted through the collection and evalua3 tion of data to determine if national health 

4 priorities are being addressed. 

5 ‘‘(B) MEDIA CAMPAIGNS.—The National 

6 Nurse for Public Health shall ensure that 

7 media campaigns conducted under subsection 

8 (c)(4) include media campaigns regarding the 

9 national health priorities. 

10 ‘‘(C) EVALUATIONS.—The National Nurse 

11 for Public Health shall, directly or through 

12 awards of grants or contracts, evaluate the ac13 tivities encouraged by the National Nurse for 

14 Public Health and conducted by community15 based, nonprofit organizations to determine the 

16 extent to which such activities have succeeded 

17 in carrying out national health priorities. 

18 ‘‘(D) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

19 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis20 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

21 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga22 nizations interested in health promotion and 

23 improving public health through community ac24 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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