I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 479 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide a means for continued 

improvement in emergency medical services for children. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2009 

Mr. MATHESON (for himself, Mr. KING of New York, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. 

REICHERT, and Ms. CASTOR of Florida) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide a means 

for continued improvement in emergency medical services 

for children. 

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 ‘‘Wakefield Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings: 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
2 

•HR 479 IH

1 (1) There are 31,000,000 child and adolescent 

2 visits to the Nation’s emergency departments every 

3 year. 

4 (2) Over 90 percent of children requiring emer5 gency care are seen in general hospitals, not in free6 standing children’s hospitals, with one-quarter to 

7 one-third of the patients being children in the typical 

8 general hospital emergency department. 

9 (3) Severe asthma and respiratory distress are 

10 the most common emergencies for pediatric patients, 

11 representing nearly one-third of all hospitalizations 

12 among children under the age of 15 years, while sei13 zures, shock, and airway obstruction are other com14 mon pediatric emergencies, followed by cardiac ar15 rest and severe trauma. 

16 (4) Up to 20 percent of children needing emer17 gency care have underlying medical conditions such 

18 as asthma, diabetes, sickle-cell disease, low birth 

19 weight, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. 

20 (5) Significant gaps remain in emergency med21 ical care delivered to children. Only about 6 percent 

22 of hospitals have available all the pediatric supplies 

23 deemed essential by the American Academy of Pedi24 atrics and the American College of Emergency Phy25 sicians for managing pediatric emergencies, while 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
3 

•HR 479 IH

1 about half of hospitals have at least 85 percent of 

2 those supplies. 

3 (6) Providers must be educated and trained to 

4 manage children’s unique physical and psychological 

5 needs in emergency situations, and emergency sys6 tems must be equipped with the resources needed to 

7 care for this especially vulnerable population. 

8 (7) Systems of care must be continually main9 tained, updated, and improved to ensure that re10 search is translated into practice, best practices are 

11 adopted, training is current, and standards and pro12 tocols are appropriate. 

13 (8) The Emergency Medical Services for Chil14 dren (EMSC) Program under section 1910 of the 

15 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300w–9) is 

16 the only Federal program that focuses specifically on 

17 improving the pediatric components of emergency 

18 medical care. 

19 (9) The EMSC Program promotes the nation20 wide exchange of pediatric emergency medical care 

21 knowledge and collaboration by those with an inter22 est in such care and is depended upon by Federal 

23 agencies and national organizations to ensure that 

24 this exchange of knowledge and collaboration takes 

25 place. 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
4 

•HR 479 IH

1 (10) The EMSC Program also supports a 

2 multi-institutional network for research in pediatric 

3 emergency medicine, thus allowing providers to rely 

4 on evidence rather than anecdotal experience when 

5 treating ill or injured children. 

6 (11) The Institute of Medicine stated in its 

7 2006 report, ‘‘Emergency Care for Children: Grow8 ing Pains’’, that the EMSC Program ‘‘boasts many 

9 accomplishments . . . and the work of the program 

10 continues to be relevant and vital’’. 

11 (12) The EMSC Program is celebrating its 

12 25th anniversary, marking a quarter-century of driv13 ing key improvements in emergency medical services 

14 to children, and should continue its mission to re15 duce child and youth morbidity and mortality by 

16 supporting improvements in the quality of all emer17 gency medical and emergency surgical care children 

18 receive. 

19 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to reduce 

20 child and youth morbidity and mortality by supporting im21 provements in the quality of all emergency medical care 

22 children receive. 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
5 

•HR 479 IH

1 SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL 

2 SERVICES FOR CHILDREN PROGRAM. 

3 Section 1910 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 300w–9) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘3-year period 

6 (with an optional 4th year’’ and inserting ‘‘4-year 

7 period (with an optional 5th year’’; and 

8 (2) in subsection (d)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘and such sums’’ and in10 serting ‘‘such sums’’; and 

11 (B) by inserting before the period the fol12 lowing: ‘‘, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, 

13 $26,250,000 for fiscal year 2011, $27,562,500 

14 for fiscal year 2012, $28,940,625 for fiscal year 

15 2013, and $30,387,656 for fiscal year 2014’’. 

Æ 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS