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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4601 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Nurse Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING THE OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL NURSE.

    Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1711. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL NURSE.

    ``(a) Establishment of Office.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is established within the Public 
        Health Service an office to be known as the Office of the 
        National Nurse, which shall be headed by a registered nurse, 
        appointed by the Secretary, serving in a full-time position to 
        be known as the National Nurse.
            ``(2) Procedure.--Except for the initial appointment of the 
        National Nurse under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall appoint 
        the National Nurse in accordance with Commissioned Corps 
        Instruction CC23.4.6 (relating to Chief Professional Officer 
        Nominations), as in effect on February 13, 2008.
            ``(3) Initial appointment.--Not later than 30 days after 
        the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 
        appoint the individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of 
        the Public Health Service as of the date of the enactment of 
        this section as the first National Nurse.
    ``(b) Rank and Grade.--The National Nurse shall have the same rank 
and grade as the Deputy Surgeon General of the Public Health Service.
    ``(c) Duties.--The National Nurse shall carry out the following:
            ``(1) Provide leadership and coordination of Public Health 
        Service nursing professional affairs for the Office of the 
        Surgeon General and other agencies of the Public Health 
        Service, including providing representation for the Government 
        of the United States at the Global Forum for Government Chief 
        Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as a member of the 
        Federal Nursing Service Council.
            ``(2) Represent the Surgeon General and the agencies of 
        Public Health Service in communications with groups and 
        societies concerned with nursing issues at the local, State, 
        national, and international levels.
            ``(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Surgeon General 
        and the Nurse Professional Advisory Committee on matters such 
        as standards, recruitment, retention, readiness, and career 
        development of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 
        of the Public Health Service.
            ``(4) Conduct media campaigns and make personal appearances 
        for purposes of paragraphs (5) through (7).
            ``(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activities to 
        promote the public health, including encouraging nurses and 
        other health professionals to be volunteers and developing 
        projects that educate the public about and engage the public in 
        prevention practices to achieve better health.
            ``(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encourage nurses 
        to become nurse educators.
            ``(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activities that 
        will increase public safety and emergency preparedness.
    ``(d) Annual Health Priorities.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each fiscal year, the National Nurse 
        shall identify, in consultation with the Surgeon General, heads 
        of the agencies of the Public Health Service, States, and 
        organizations that represent health professionals, annual 
        health priorities.
            ``(2) Carrying out annual health priorities.--The National 
        Nurse, in addressing the annual health priorities, shall 
        encourage volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 
        strengthen the relationship between Government agencies and 
        health-related national organizations.
            ``(3) Community-based projects.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In carrying out this subsection, 
                the National Nurse shall encourage community-based, 
                nonprofit organizations to seek grants for the purpose 
                of education and interventions to address the annual 
                health priorities.
                    ``(B) Implementation.--In encouraging community-
                based, nonprofit organizations under subparagraph (A), 
                the National Nurse shall--
                            ``(i) provide guidance and coordination on 
                        recommended activities to such organizations;
                            ``(ii) encourage practicing nurses and 
                        other health professionals, including retired 
                        health professionals and students enrolled in 
                        health professional programs, to participate in 
                        health promotion activities and replicate 
                        successful health promotion activities;
                            ``(iii) monitor activities being conducted 
                        through the collection and evaluation of data 
                        to determine if the annual health priorities 
                        are being addressed; and
                            ``(iv) acknowledge successful programs and 
                        encourage their replication.
                    ``(C) Media campaigns.--The National Nurse shall 
                ensure that media campaigns conducted under subsection 
                (c)(4) include media campaigns regarding the annual 
                health priorities.
                    ``(D) Evaluations.--The National Nurse shall, 
                directly or through awards of grants or contracts, 
                evaluate the activities encouraged by the National 
                Nurse and conducted by community-based, nonprofit 
                organizations under subparagraph (A) to determine the 
                extent to which such activities have succeeded in 
                carrying out the purpose described in such 
                subparagraph.
                    ``(E) Dissemination of information.--The National 
                Nurse shall disseminate information to governmental 
                agencies, schools, and community-based, nonprofit 
                organizations interested in health promotion and 
                improving public health through community action.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014.''.
                                 <all>
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