II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3149 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish within 

the Office of the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the Office of Rural Health, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2021 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Ms. SMITH) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 

establish within the Office of the Director of the Centers 

for Disease Control and Prevention the Office of Rural 

Health, 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‘‘Rural Health Equity 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CDC OFFICE OF RURAL HEALTH. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

8 within the Office of the Director of the Centers for Disease 


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1 Control and Prevention an office to be known as the ‘‘Of2 fice of Rural Health’’, to be headed by a director ap3 pointed by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 

4 and Prevention. 

5 (b) DUTIES.—The Director of the Office shall— 

6 (1) serve as the primary point of contact in the 

7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on mat8 ters pertaining to rural health; 

9 (2) assist the Secretary in conducting, coordi10 nating, and promoting research regarding public 

11 health issues affecting rural populations, and in dis12 seminating the results of such research; 

13 (3) work with all personnel and offices of the 

14 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to de15 velop, refine, coordinate, and promulgate policies, 

16 best practices, lessons learned, and innovative, suc17 cessful programs to improve care, services, and so18 cial determinants of health for populations who re19 side in rural areas of the United States; 

20 (4) coordinate and support rural health re21 search, conduct and support educational outreach, 

22 and disseminate evidence-based interventions related 

23 to health outcomes, access to health care, and life24 style challenges, to prevent death, disease, injury, 

25 and disability, and promote healthy behaviors, in 


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1 rural populations, including rural minority and 

2 LGBTQ populations; 

3 (5) improve the understanding of the challenges 

4 faced by rural populations; 

5 (6) identify disparities in the availability of 

6 health care and public health interventions for popu7 lations living in rural areas; 

8 (7) administer grants, cooperative agreements, 

9 and contracts to provide technical assistance and 

10 other activities as necessary to support activities re11 lated to improving health and health care in rural 

12 areas; and 

13 (8) perform such other functions and duties as 

14 the Secretary determines appropriate. 

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) The term ‘‘Office’’, except as otherwise 

17 specified, means the Office of Rural Health estab18 lished pursuant to subsection (a). 

19 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

20 of Health and Human Services, acting through the 

21 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre22 vention. 

23 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

24 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 


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1 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and each subsequent fis2 cal year. 

Æ 


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