I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4601 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Office of the 

National Nurse. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2010 

Mr. BLUMENAUER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the 

Office of the National Nurse. 

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 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING THE OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL 

7 NURSE. 

8 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1711. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL NURSE. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 

4 the Public Health Service an office to be known as 

5 the Office of the National Nurse, which shall be 

6 headed by a registered nurse, appointed by the Sec7 retary, serving in a full-time position to be known as 

8 the National Nurse. 

9 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—Except for the initial ap10 pointment of the National Nurse under paragraph 

11 (3), the Secretary shall appoint the National Nurse 

12 in accordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction 

13 CC23.4.6 (relating to Chief Professional Officer 

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

15 ‘‘(3) INITIAL APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 

16 30 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

17 the Secretary shall appoint the individual serving as 

18 the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service 

19 as of the date of the enactment of this section as the 

20 first National Nurse. 

21 ‘‘(b) RANK AND GRADE.—The National Nurse shall 

22 have the same rank and grade as the Deputy Surgeon 

23 General of the Public Health Service. 

24 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The National Nurse shall carry out 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

2 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

3 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

4 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro5 viding representation for the Government of the 

6 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

7 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

8 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

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

10 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

11 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

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

13 levels. 

14 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur15 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

16 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit17 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

18 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

19 of the Public Health Service. 

20 ‘‘(4) Conduct media campaigns and make per21 sonal appearances for purposes of paragraphs (5) 

22 through (7). 

23 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi24 ties to promote the public health, including encour25 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 


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1 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

2 public about and engage the public in prevention 

3 practices to achieve better health. 

4 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour5 age nurses to become nurse educators. 

6 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi7 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

8 preparedness. 

9 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL HEALTH PRIORITIES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each fiscal year, the Na11 tional Nurse shall identify, in consultation with the 

12 Surgeon General, heads of the agencies of the Public 

13 Health Service, States, and organizations that rep14 resent health professionals, annual health priorities. 

15 ‘‘(2) CARRYING OUT ANNUAL HEALTH PRIOR16 ITIES.—The National Nurse, in addressing the an17 nual health priorities, shall encourage volunteerism 

18 of nurses and other individuals, and strengthen the 

19 relationship between Government agencies and 

20 health-related national organizations. 

21 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this 

23 subsection, the National Nurse shall encourage 

24 community-based, nonprofit organizations to 

25 seek grants for the purpose of education and 


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1 interventions to address the annual health pri2 orities. 

3 ‘‘(B) IMPLEMENTATION.—In encouraging 

4 community-based, nonprofit organizations 

5 under subparagraph (A), the National Nurse 

6 shall— 

7 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

8 on recommended activities to such organi9 zations; 

10 ‘‘(ii) 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; 

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

20 health priorities are being addressed; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) acknowledge successful programs 

22 and encourage their replication. 

23 ‘‘(C) MEDIA CAMPAIGNS.—The National 

24 Nurse shall ensure that media campaigns con25 ducted under subsection (c)(4) include media 


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1 campaigns regarding the annual health prior2 ities. 

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

4 shall, directly or through awards of grants or 

5 contracts, evaluate the activities encouraged by 

6 the National Nurse and conducted by commu7 nity-based, nonprofit organizations under sub8 paragraph (A) to determine the extent to which 

9 such activities have succeeded in carrying out 

10 the purpose described in such subparagraph. 

11 ‘‘(E) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

12 The National Nurse shall disseminate informa13 tion to governmental agencies, schools, and 

14 community-based, nonprofit organizations inter15 ested in health promotion and improving public 

16 health through community action. 

17 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

18 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

19 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 

20 each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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