II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1475 

To establish the position of National Nurse for Public Health, to be filled 

by the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public 

Health Service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2013 

Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish the position of National Nurse for Public 

Health, to be filled by the same individual serving as 

the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service. 

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 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

7 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

9 the following: 


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

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An individual designated as 

4 the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service 

5 under section 205 shall be designated by the Sec6 retary as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

7 Such Chief Nurse Office shall serve full-time within 

8 the Office of the Surgeon General. 

9 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION.—Not later than 30 days 

10 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec11 retary shall designate the individual serving as the 

12 Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service on 

13 such date as the first National Nurse for Public 

14 Health. Subsequent designations shall occur in ac15 cordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction 

16 CC23.4.6 (relating to Chief Professional Officer 

17 Nominations), as in effect on February 13, 2008. 

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

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

20 Deputy Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. 

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

22 shall carry out the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

24 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

25 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

26 agencies of the Public Health Service, including proVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:33 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1475.IS S1475

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1 viding representation for the Government of the 

2 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

3 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

4 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

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

6 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

7 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

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

9 levels. 

10 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur11 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

12 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit13 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

14 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

15 of the Public Health Service. 

16 ‘‘(4) Conduct outreach and education for pur17 poses of paragraphs (5) through (7). 

18 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi19 ties to promote the public health, including encour20 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

21 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

22 public about and engage the public in prevention 

23 practices to achieve better health. 

24 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour25 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 


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1 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

2 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

3 future nurses. 

4 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi5 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

6 preparedness. 

7 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—HEALTHY

8 PEOPLE 2020.— 

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

10 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen11 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen12 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga13 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

14 participate in the identification of national health 

15 priorities. 

16 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR17 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

18 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

19 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

20 strengthen the relationship between Government 

21 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

22 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

24 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

25 for Public Health shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

2 on recommended activities to organiza3 tions; 

4 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

5 and encourage their replication; 

6 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

7 evidence-based practice in educating the 

8 public on health promotion and disease 

9 prevention activities; 

10 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

11 other health professionals, including retired 

12 health professionals and students enrolled 

13 in health professional programs, to partici14 pate in health promotion activities and rep15 licate successful health promotion activi16 ties; and 

17 ‘‘(v) monitor activities being con18 ducted through the collection and evalua19 tion of data to determine if national health 

20 priorities are being addressed. 

21 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—The 

22 National Nurse for Public Health shall ensure 

23 that outreach and education conducted under 

24 subsection (c)(4) include diverse approaches, inVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:33 Aug 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1475.IS S1475

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1 cluding social media campaigns, to address na2 tional health priorities. 

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

4 for Public Health shall participate in evaluating 

5 the national, regional, and community-based ac6 tivities encouraged by the National Nurse for 

7 Public Health and conducted by community8 based, nonprofit organizations to determine the 

9 extent to which such activities have succeeded 

10 in carrying out national health priorities. 

11 ‘‘(D) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

12 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis13 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

14 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga15 nizations interested in health promotion and 

16 improving public health through community ac17 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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