II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3641 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with regard to research on asthma, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 

Mr. LAUTENBERG (for himself and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with regard to 

research on asthma, 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 ‘‘Family Asthma Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The number of people with asthma in8 creased by 50 percent between 1998 and 2010. Ac9 cording to the Centers for Disease Control and Pre10 vention, in 2010 more than 25,000,000 Americans 

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1 had been diagnosed with asthma, including an esti2 mated 7,000,000 children. 

3 (2) According to the Centers for Disease Con4 trol and Prevention, in 2009 more than 3,300 Amer5 icans died from asthma. The rate of mortality from 

6 asthma is higher among African-Americans and 

7 women. 

8 (3) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre9 vention report that asthma accounted for 480,000 

10 hospitalizations in 2009 and 1,800,000 visits to hos11 pital emergency departments in 2007. 

12 (4) According to the Centers for Disease Con13 trol and Prevention, the annual cost of asthma to 

14 the United States is approximately 

15 $56,000,000,000, including $5,900,000,000 in indi16 rect costs from lost productivity. 

17 (5) According to the Centers for Disease Con18 trol and Prevention, 10,500,000 school days and 

19 14,200,000 work days are missed annually as a re20 sult of asthma. 

21 (6) Asthma episodes can be triggered by both 

22 outdoor air pollution and indoor air pollution, in23 cluding pollutants such as cigarette smoke and com24 bustion by-products. Asthma episodes can also be 

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1 triggered by indoor allergens such as animal dander 

2 and outdoor allergens such as pollen and molds. 

3 (7) Public health interventions and medical care 

4 in accordance with existing guidelines have been 

5 proven effective in the treatment and management 

6 of asthma. Better asthma management could reduce 

7 the numbers of emergency department visits and 

8 hospitalizations due to asthma. Studies published in 

9 medical journals have shown that better asthma 

10 management results in improved asthma outcomes 

11 at a lower cost. 

12 (8) In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control 

13 and Prevention reported that less than half of people 

14 with asthma had been taught how to avoid asthma 

15 triggers. More education about triggers, proper 

16 treatment, and asthma management methods is 

17 needed. 

18 (9) The alarming rise in the prevalence of asth19 ma, its adverse effect on school attendance and pro20 ductivity, and its cost for hospitalizations and emer21 gency room visits, highlight the importance of public 

22 health interventions, including increasing awareness 

23 of asthma as a chronic illness, its symptoms, the role 

24 of both indoor and outdoor environmental factors 

25 that exacerbate the disease, and other factors that 

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1 affect its exacerbations and severity. The goals of 

2 the Federal Government and its partners in the non3 profit and private sectors should include reducing 

4 the number and severity of asthma attacks, asthma’s 

5 financial burden, and the health disparities associ6 ated with asthma. 

7 SEC. 3. ASTHMA-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTERS 

8 FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION. 

9 Section 317I of the Public Health Service Act (42 

10 U.S.C. 247b–10) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 317I. ASTHMA-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTERS 

12 FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION. 

13 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION AND

14 EDUCATION TO THE PUBLIC.—The Secretary, acting 

15 through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 

16 and Prevention, shall collaborate with State and local 

17 health departments to conduct activities, including the 

18 provision of information and education to the public re19 garding asthma including— 

20 ‘‘(1) deterring the harmful consequences of un21 controlled asthma; and 

22 ‘‘(2) disseminating health education and infor23 mation regarding prevention of asthma episodes and 

24 strategies for managing asthma. 

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1 ‘‘(b) DEVELOPMENT OF STATE ASTHMA PLANS.— 

2 The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers 

3 for Disease Control and Prevention, shall collaborate with 

4 State and local health departments to develop State plans 

5 incorporating public health responses to reduce the burden 

6 of asthma, particularly regarding disproportionately af7 fected populations. 

8 ‘‘(c) COMPILATION OF DATA.—The Secretary, acting 

9 through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 

10 and Prevention, shall, in cooperation with State and local 

11 public health officials— 

12 ‘‘(1) conduct asthma surveillance activities to 

13 collect data on the prevalence and severity of asth14 ma, the effectiveness of public health asthma inter15 ventions, and the quality of asthma management, in16 cluding— 

17 ‘‘(A) collection of household data on the 

18 local burden of asthma; 

19 ‘‘(B) surveillance of health care facilities; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(C) collection of data not containing indi22 vidually identifiable information from electronic 

23 health records or other electronic communica24 tions; 

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1 ‘‘(2) compile and annually publish data regard2 ing the prevalence and incidence of childhood asth3 ma, the child mortality rate, and the number of hos4 pital admissions and emergency department visits by 

5 children associated with asthma nationally and in 

6 each State and at the county level by age, sex, race, 

7 and ethnicity, as well as lifetime and current preva8 lence; and 

9 ‘‘(3) compile and annually publish data regard10 ing the prevalence and incidence of adult asthma, 

11 the adult mortality rate, and the number of hospital 

12 admissions and emergency department visits by 

13 adults associated with asthma nationally and in each 

14 State and at the county level by age, sex, race, eth15 nicity, industry, and occupation, as well as lifetime 

16 and current prevalence. 

17 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION OF DATA COLLECTION.—The 

18 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven19 tion, in conjunction with State and local health depart20 ments, shall coordinate data collection activities under 

21 subsection (c)(2) so as to maximize the comparability of 

22 results. 

23 ‘‘(e) COLLABORATION.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Centers for Disease 

25 Control and Prevention are encouraged to collabomstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 rate with national, State, and local nonprofit organi2 zations to provide information and education about 

3 asthma, and to strengthen such collaborations when 

4 possible. 

5 ‘‘(2) SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES.—The Division of 

6 Adolescent and School Health is encouraged to ex7 pand its activities with non-Federal partners, espe8 cially State-level entities. 

9 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—In addition to any 

10 other authorization of appropriations that is available to 

11 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the 

12 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 

13 to be appropriated to such Centers such sums as may be 

14 necessary for each of fiscal years 2013 through 2017 for 

15 the purpose of carrying out this section. 

16 ‘‘(g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec19 retary shall, in consultation with patient groups, 

20 nonprofit organizations, medical societies, and other 

21 relevant governmental and nongovernmental entities, 

22 submit to Congress a report that— 

23 ‘‘(A) catalogs, with respect to asthma pre24 vention, management, and surveillance— 

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1 ‘‘(i) the activities of the Federal Gov2 ernment, including an assessment of the 

3 progress of the Federal Government and 

4 States, with respect to achieving the goals 

5 of the Healthy People 2020 initiative; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the activities of other entities 

7 that participate in the program under this 

8 section, including nonprofit organizations, 

9 patient advocacy groups, and medical soci10 eties; and 

11 ‘‘(B) makes recommendations for the fu12 ture direction of asthma activities, in consulta13 tion with researchers from the National Insti14 tutes of Health and other member bodies of the 

15 National Asthma Education and Prevention 

16 Program who are qualified to review and ana17 lyze data and evaluate interventions, includ18 ing— 

19 ‘‘(i) description of how the Federal 

20 Government may improve its response to 

21 asthma including identifying any barriers 

22 that may exist; 

23 ‘‘(ii) description of how the Federal 

24 Government may continue, expand, and 

25 improve its private-public partnerships 

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1 with respect to asthma including identi2 fying any barriers that may exist; 

3 ‘‘(iii) the identification of steps that 

4 may be taken to reduce the— 

5 ‘‘(I) morbidity, mortality, and 

6 overall prevalence of asthma; 

7 ‘‘(II) financial burden of asthma 

8 on society; 

9 ‘‘(III) burden of asthma on dis10 proportionately affected areas, par11 ticularly those in medically under12 served populations (as defined in sec13 tion 330(b)(3)); and 

14 ‘‘(IV) burden of asthma as a 

15 chronic disease; 

16 ‘‘(iv) the identification of programs 

17 and policies that have achieved the steps 

18 described under clause (iii), and steps that 

19 may be taken to expand such programs 

20 and policies to benefit larger populations; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(v) recommendations for future re23 search and interventions. 

24 ‘‘(2) UPDATES TO CONGRESS.— 

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1 ‘‘(A) CONGRESSIONAL REQUEST.—During 

2 the 5-year period following the submission of 

3 the report under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

4 shall submit updates and revisions of the report 

5 upon the request of the Congress. 

6 ‘‘(B) FIVE-YEAR REEVALUATION.—At the 

7 end of the 5-year period following the submis8 sion of the report under paragraph (1), the Sec9 retary shall evaluate the analyses and rec10 ommendations made under such report and de11 termine whether a new report to the Congress 

12 is necessary, and make appropriate rec13 ommendations to the Congress.’’. 

Æ 

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