I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4548 

To authorize the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

to award grants to eligible counties for the use of mobile clinics and 

distance learning and telemedicine to diagnose and treat children with 

asthma in rural areas and medically underserved communities, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 

Mr. VARGAS (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. COX of California) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 

and Prevention to award grants to eligible counties for 

the use of mobile clinics and distance learning and telemedicine to diagnose and treat children with asthma 

in rural areas and medically underserved communities, 

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 ‘‘Asthma Care and Pre5 vention in Rural Communities Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Asthma has a high morbidity and can even 

4 lead to death if not properly managed. 

5 (2) Nationally, over 25 million people suffer 

6 from asthma according to the most recent statistics 

7 from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven8 tion. 

9 (3) Nationally, of those who suffer from asth10 ma, 43.6 percent of adults report one or more asth11 ma attacks annually, and of all children who suffer 

12 from asthma, 51.6 percent report one or more asth13 ma attacks annually. 

14 (4) Nationally the prevalence of asthma among 

15 children is 8.4 percent. 

16 (5) When asthma is controlled, it can lead to 

17 fewer school and work days missed, hospitalizations, 

18 and emergency room visits. 

19 (6) While asthma is often believed to be a 

20 greater problem for urban centers, the burden of 

21 asthma on rural communities in the United States 

22 is understudied. 

23 (7) Some research suggests that certain rural 

24 areas face the same risk factors as cities. 

25 (8) Research shows that rural communities may 

26 have a harder time accessing care for asthma, due 


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1 to lack of transportation to and the distance of resi2 dents from health care services. 

3 (9) Mobile asthma clinics have been proven to 

4 help medically underserved communities manage this 

5 disease while providing cost-saving measures. 

6 SEC. 3. ADDRESSING THE BURDEN OF ASTHMA IN RURAL 

7 AREAS AND MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED COM8 MUNITIES. 

9 (a) GRANTS FOR MOBILE CLINICS AND DISTANCE

10 LEARNING AND TELEMEDICINE.— 

11 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—The Director of the Cen12 ters for Disease Control and Prevention may award 

13 grants to eligible counties for the use of mobile clin14 ics and distance learning and telemedicine— 

15 (A) to diagnose and treat children with 

16 asthma in rural areas, and medically under17 served communities, in eligible counties; and 

18 (B) to educate individuals in such areas 

19 and communities about asthma. 

20 (2) SUBGRANTS.—An eligible county receiving a 

21 grant under paragraph (1) may use the grant funds 

22 to award subgrants to schools, hospitals, or other 

23 local organizations to administer mobile clinics and 

24 distance learning and telemedicine in the county for 

25 the purposes listed in paragraph (1). 


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1 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

2 (A) The term ‘‘children’’ means individuals 

3 under 18 years of age. 

4 (B) The term ‘‘eligible counties’’ means 

5 counties that each have a prevalence of asthma 

6 of 12 percent or higher among children. 

7 (C) The term ‘‘medically underserved com8 munity’’ has the meaning given such term in 

9 section 799B of the Public Health Service Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 295p). 

11 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

12 carry out this subsection, there is authorized to be 

13 appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

14 2020 through 2024. 

15 (b) STUDY.—The Director of the Centers for Disease 

16 Control and Prevention shall— 

17 (1) conduct a study on— 

18 (A) the burden of asthma in rural areas of 

19 the United States; 

20 (B) risk and protective factors for asthma 

21 in such areas; and 

22 (C) best practices for preventing and treat23 ing asthma in such areas; 

24 (2) ensure that data used in such study is 

25 disaggregated such that no racial or ethnic subgroup 


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1 is overlooked due to the absence of asthma in the 

2 larger group to which that subgroup belongs; and 

3 (3) not later than 1 year after the date of en4 actment of this Act, complete such study and submit 

5 a report to the Congress on the results of such 

6 study. 

Æ 


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