I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2959 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the establishment 

of Parkinson’s Disease Research Education and Clinical Centers in the 

Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2005 

Mr. EVANS (for himself, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, 

Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. PICKERING, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. KING of New York, 

and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the 

establishment of Parkinson’s Disease Research Education and Clinical Centers in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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

3 SECTION 1. PARKINSON’S DISEASE RESEARCH, EDU4 CATION, AND CLINICAL CENTERS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF CEN6 TERS.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 

2 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by add3 ing at the end the following new section: 

4 ‘‘§ 7329. Parkinson’s disease research, education, and 

5 clinical centers 

6 ‘‘(a) The Secretary, upon the recommendation of the 

7 Under Secretary for Health and pursuant to the provi8 sions of this section, shall designate six Department 

9 health-care facilities as the locations for centers of Parkin10 son’s Disease research, education, and clinical activities 

11 and (subject to the appropriation of sufficient funds for 

12 such purpose) shall establish and operate such centers at 

13 such locations in accordance with this section. 

14 ‘‘(b) In designating locations for centers under sub15 section (a), the Secretary, upon the recommendation of the 

16 Under Secretary for Health, shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) designate each Department health-care fa18 cility that as of January 1, 2005, was operating a 

19 Parkinson’s Disease research, education, and clinical 

20 center unless (on the recommendation of the Under 

21 Secretary for Health) the Secretary determines that 

22 such facility does not meet the requirements of sub23 section (c) or has not demonstrated effectiveness in 

24 carrying out the established purposes of such center 
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1 or the potential to carry out such purposes effec2 tively in the reasonably foreseeable future; and 

3 ‘‘(2) assure appropriate geographic distribution 

4 of such facilities. 

5 ‘‘(c) The Secretary may not designate a health-care 

6 facility as a location for a center under subsection (a) un7 less the peer review panel established under subsection (d) 

8 has determined under that subsection that the proposal 

9 submitted by such facility as a location for a new center 

10 under subsection (a) is among those proposals which have 

11 met the highest competitive standards of scientific and 

12 clinical merit, and the Secretary (upon the recommenda13 tion of the Under Secretary for Health) determines that 

14 the facility has (or may reasonably be anticipated to de15 velop) each of the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) An arrangement with an accredited med17 ical school which provides education and training in 

18 neurology and with which such facility is affiliated 

19 under which residents receive education and training 

20 in innovative diagnosis and treatment of chronic 

21 neurodegenerative diseases and movement disorders, 

22 including Parkinson’s disease. 

23 ‘‘(2) The ability to attract the participation of 

24 scientists who are capable of ingenuity and creativity 

25 in health-care research efforts. 
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1 ‘‘(3) A policymaking advisory committee com2 posed of appropriate health-care and research rep3 resentatives of the facility and of the affiliated 

4 school or schools to advise the directors of such fa5 cility and such center on policy matters pertaining to 

6 the activities of such center during the period of the 

7 operation of such center. 

8 ‘‘(4) The capability to conduct effectively eval9 uations of the activities of such center. 

10 ‘‘(5) The capability to coordinate, as part of an 

11 integrated national system, education, clinical, and 

12 research activities within all facilities with such cen13 ters. 

14 ‘‘(6) The capability to jointly develop a consor15 tium of providers with interest in treating 

16 neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s 

17 Disease, and other movement disorders, at facilities 

18 without such centers in order to ensure better access 

19 to state-of-the-art diagnosis, care, and education for 

20 neurodegenerative disorders throughout the health 

21 care system. 

22 ‘‘(7) The capability to develop a national reposi23 tory for the collection of data on health services de24 livered to veterans seeking care for 

25 neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s 
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1 Disease, and other movement disorders in the health 

2 care system. 

3 ‘‘(d)(1) The Under Secretary for Health shall estab4 lish a panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of 

5 proposals that are submitted to the Secretary for the es6 tablishment of new centers under this section. 

7 ‘‘(2)(A) The membership of the panel shall consist 

8 of experts in neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkin9 son’s Disease, and other movement disorders. 

10 ‘‘(B) Members of the panel shall serve as consultants 

11 to the Department for a period of no longer than two years 

12 except in the case of panelists asked to serve on the initial 

13 panel as specified in subparagraph (C). 

14 ‘‘(C) In order to ensure panel continuity, half of the 

15 members of the first panel shall be appointed for a period 

16 of three years and half for a period of two years. 

17 ‘‘(3) The panel shall review each proposal submitted 

18 to the panel by the Under Secretary and shall submit its 

19 views on the relative scientific and clinical merit of each 

20 such proposal to the Under Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(4) The panel shall not be subject to the Federal 

22 Advisory Committee Act. 

23 ‘‘(e) Before providing funds for the operation of any 

24 such center at a health-care facility other than a health25 care facility designated under subsection (b)(1), the Sec-
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1 retary shall assure that the center at each facility des2 ignated under such subsection is receiving adequate fund3 ing to enable such center to function effectively in the 

4 areas of Parkinson’s Disease research, education, and clin5 ical activities. 

6 ‘‘(f) There are authorized to be appropriated such 

7 sums as may be necessary for the support of the research 

8 and education activities of the centers established pursu9 ant to subsection (a). The Under Secretary for Health 

10 shall allocate to such centers from other funds appro11 priated generally for the Department medical services ac12 count and medical and prosthetics research account, as 

13 appropriate, such amounts as the Under Secretary for 

14 Health determines appropriate. 

15 ‘‘(g) Activities of clinical and scientific investigation 

16 at each center established under subsection (a) shall be 

17 eligible to compete for the award of funding from funds 

18 appropriated for the Department medical and prosthetics 

19 research account and shall receive priority in the award 

20 of funding from such account insofar as funds are award21 ed to projects for research in Parkinson’s disease and 

22 other movement disorders.’’. 

23 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec24 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 
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1 by inserting after the item relating to section 7328 

2 the following new item: 

‘‘7329. Parkinson’s disease research, education, and clinical centers.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 7329 of title 38, 

4 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall take 

5 effect on October 1, 2005. 

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