II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1205 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of 

the Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2015 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse 

Officer of the Public Health Service as the 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 2015’’. 

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.—The same individual des4 ignated as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public 

5 Health Service under section 205 shall also be des6 ignated by the Secretary as the National Nurse for 

7 Public Health. 

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

9 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec10 retary shall designate the individual serving as the 

11 Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service on 

12 such date as the first National Nurse for Public 

13 Health. Subsequent designations shall occur in ac14 cordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction 

15 CC23.4.6 (relating to Chief Professional Officer 

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

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

18 Public Health shall be of an equivalent rank to the Chief 

19 of the Army and Air Force Nurse Corps and the Director 

20 of Navy Nurse Corps. 

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 Sep 11 2014 21:30 May 13, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1205.IS S1205

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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 ‘‘(8) Prepare and publish a biennial report on 

8 the state of the Commissioned Corps of the Public 

9 Health Service Nurse Category. 

10 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—NATIONAL

11 PREVENTION STRATEGY.— 

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

13 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen14 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen15 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga16 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

17 continue to participate in the identification of na18 tional health priorities. 

19 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR20 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

21 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

22 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

23 strengthen the relationship between Government 

24 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

25 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

2 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

3 for Public Health shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

5 on recommended activities to organiza6 tions; 

7 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

8 and encourage their replication; 

9 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

10 evidence-based practice in educating the 

11 public on health promotion and disease 

12 prevention activities; 

13 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

14 other health professionals, including retired 

15 health professionals and students enrolled 

16 in health professional programs, to partici17 pate in health promotion activities and rep18 licate successful health promotion activities 

19 in their local communities; and 

20 ‘‘(v) collaborate with Federal agencies 

21 to monitor activities being conducted 

22 through the collection and evaluation of 

23 data to determine if national health prior24 ities are being addressed. 


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1 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—In 

2 conducting outreach and education under sub3 section (c)(4), the National Nurse for Public 

4 Health shall give priority to the inclusion of di5 verse approaches, including social media cam6 paigns, to address national health priorities. 

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

8 for Public Health shall participate in preparing 

9 the annual status report of the National Pre10 vention, Health Promotion and Public Health 

11 Council under section 4001(h)(2) of the Patient 

12 Protection and Affordable Care Act. 

13 ‘‘(D) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

14 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis15 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

16 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga17 nizations interested in health promotion and 

18 improving public health through community ac19 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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