II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1955

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment

of a National Center for Pain Research, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 16, 1996

Mr. HATCH (for himself, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. FAIRCLOTH, Mr. BENNETT, Mr.

INOUYE, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. SIMON, Mr. PRESSLER, and Mr. DEWINE)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for

the establishment of a National Center for Pain Research, and for other purposes.

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 Center for

5 Pain Research Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL CENTER FOR PAIN RESEARCH.

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Section 401(b)(2) of the Pub8 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281(b)(2)) is amended
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1 by adding at the end thereof the following new subpara2 graph:

3 ‘‘(F) The National Center for Pain Research.’’.

4 (b) OPERATION.—Part E of title IV (42 U.S.C. 287

5 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol6 lowing new subpart:

7 ‘‘Subpart 5—National Center for Pain Research

8 ‘‘SEC. 485E. ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE OF THE CEN9 TER.

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab11 lish within the National Institutes of Health, a center to

12 be known as the National Center for Pain Research (here13 after referred to in this subpart as the ‘Center’). The Cen14 ter shall be headed by a Director (hereafter referred to

15 in this subpart as the ‘Director’) who shall be appointed

16 by the Director of NIH, after consultation with experts

17 in the fields of pain research and treatment representing

18 the disciplines designated in subsection (b)(3), and have

19 the powers described in section 405.

20 ‘‘(b) GENERAL PURPOSE.—The general purpose of

21 the National Center for Pain Research is—

22 ‘‘(1) to improve the quality of life of individuals

23 suffering from pain by fostering of clinical and basic

24 science research into the causes of and effective

25 treatments for pain;
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1 ‘‘(2) to establish a national agenda for conduct2 ing and supporting pain research in the specific cat3 egories described in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C),

4 and (D) of paragraph (3);

5 ‘‘(3) to identify, coordinate and support re6 search, training, health information dissemination

7 and related activities with respect to—

8 ‘‘(A) acute pain;

9 ‘‘(B) cancer and HIV-related pain;

10 ‘‘(C) back pain, headache pain, and facial

11 pain; and

12 ‘‘(D) other painful conditions;

13 including the biology of pain, the development of

14 new and the refinement of existing pain treatments,

15 the delivery of pain treatment through the health

16 care system and the coordination of interdisciplinary

17 pain management, that should be conducted or sup18 ported by the National Institutes of Health;

19 ‘‘(4) to conduct and support pain research,

20 training, education and related activities that have

21 been identified as requiring additional, special prior22 ity as determined appropriate by the Director of the

23 Center and the advisory council established under

24 subsection (c);
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1 ‘‘(5) to coordinate all pain research, training,

2 and related activities being carried out among and

3 within the National Institutes of Health;

4 ‘‘(6) to initiate a comprehensive program of col5 laborative interdisciplinary research among schools,

6 colleges and universities, including colleges of medi7 cine and osteopathy, colleges of nursing, colleges of

8 chiropractic who are members of the Association of

9 Chiropractic Colleges, schools of dentistry, schools of

10 physical therapy, schools of occupational therapy,

11 and schools of clinical psychology, comprehensive

12 health care centers, and specialized centers of pain

13 research and treatment; and

14 ‘‘(7) to promote the sufficient allocation of the

15 resources of the National Institutes of Health for

16 conducting and supporting pain research in the spe17 cific categories described in subparagraphs (A), (B),

18 (C), and (D) of paragraph (3).

19 ‘‘(c) ADVISORY COUNCIL.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Pain Re21 search Center Advisory Board shall be the advisory

22 council for the Center. Section 406 applies to the

23 advisory council established under this paragraph,

24 except that—
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1 ‘‘(A) the members of the advisory council

2 shall include representatives of the broad range

3 of health and scientific disciplines involved in

4 research and treatment related to those cat5 egories of pain described in subsection (b)(2),

6 and shall include an equal number of represent7 atives of physicians who practice pain manage8 ment, clinical psychologists, individuals who

9 provide physical medicine and rehabilitative

10 services (including physical therapy and occupa11 tional therapy), nurses, dentists, and chiroprac12 tic health care professionals;

13 ‘‘(B) the nonvoting ex officio members

14 shall include—

15 ‘‘(i) the Director of the National Can16 cer Institute;

17 ‘‘(ii) the Director of the National In18 stitute of Dental Research;

19 ‘‘(iii) the Director of the National In20 stitute of Child Health and Human Devel21 opment;

22 ‘‘(iv) the Director of the National In23 stitute of Nursing Research;

24 ‘‘(v) the Director of the National In25 stitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases;
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1 ‘‘(vi) the Director of the National In2 stitute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal

3 and Skin Diseases;

4 ‘‘(vii) the Director of the National In5 stitute of Neurological Disorders and

6 Stroke;

7 ‘‘(viii) the Director of the National In8 stitute on Drug Abuse; and

9 ‘‘(ix) the Director of the National In10 stitute on Disability and Rehabilitation Re11 search of the Department of Education;

12 and

13 ‘‘(3) the council shall meet at least two

14 times each fiscal year.

15 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The advisory council shall ad16 vise, assist, consult with and make recommendations

17 to the Director of the Center concerning matters re18 lating to the coordination, research, training, edu19 cation, and related general purposes set forth in sub

20 section (b), including policy recommendations with

21 regard to grants, contracts, and the operations of

22 the Center.

23 ‘‘(d) ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL PAIN RE24 SEARCH CENTERS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To facilitate and en2 hance the research, training, education, and related

3 activities to be carried out by the Center, the Direc4 tor of the Center, in consultation with the advisory

5 council established under subsection (c), shall estab6 lish not less than six regional pain research centers.

7 ‘‘(2) FOCUS AND DISTRIBUTION.—

8 ‘‘(A) FOCUS.—The regional centers estab9 lished under paragraph (1) shall have as their

10 primary focus one of the categories of pain de11 scribed in subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D)

12 of subsection (b)(3).

13 ‘‘(B) DISTRIBUTION.—One regional pain

14 research center shall be established in each of

15 the following six regions of the United States as

16 defined by the Secretary:

17 ‘‘(A) The northeast region.

18 ‘‘(B) The southeast region.

19 ‘‘(C) The midwest region.

20 ‘‘(D) The southwest region.

21 ‘‘(E) The west region, including Hawaii.

22 ‘‘(F) The Pacific Northwest region, includ23 ing Alaska.

24 ‘‘(2) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—The regional cen25 ters established under paragraph (1) shall be a part
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1 of the Center and shall be interconnected to the

2 Center headquarters through the utilization of dis3 tance learning technologies, satellites, fiber optic

4 links, or other telecommunications and computer

5 systems, to allow for the interactive exchange of in6 formation, research data, findings, training pro7 grams, educational programs, and other Center

8 research and related initiatives.

9 ‘‘(3) INITIAL REGIONAL CENTERS.—The initial

10 regional centers shall be selected through a competi11 tive process from among institutions and centers of

12 the type described in subsection (b)(6).

13 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of carry15 ing out this section, there are authorized to be ap16 propriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years

17 1997, 1998, and 1999, and such sums as may be

18 necessary for fiscal year 2000.

19 ‘‘(2) REGIONAL CENTERS.—Of the amount ap20 propriated under paragraph (1) for fiscal year 1998

21 and each subsequent fiscal year, not less than

22 $1,000,000 shall be made available to each of the re23 gional centers established under subsection (d).

24 ‘‘(3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than

25 January 1, 1998, and each January 1, thereafter,
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1 the Director of the Center shall prepare and submit

2 to the committees of Congress a report concerning

3 the total amount of funds expended to support for

4 pain-related research in for the year for which the

5 report was prepared.’’.

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