I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 485 

To establish the position of National Nurse for Public Health, to be filled 

by the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public 

Health Service. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2013 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. KING of New York, 

Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. MORAN, Mr. 

RANGEL, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, 

Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. BEN RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HOLT, Ms. 

SLAUGHTER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. RYAN of 

Ohio, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. SCHRADER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish the position of National Nurse for Public 

Health, to be filled by the same individual serving as 

the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service. 

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 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

2 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1711. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

8 the Office of the Surgeon General a full-time posi9 tion, to be filled by a registered nurse to be known 

10 as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

11 ‘‘(2) APPOINTMENT.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except for the initial 

13 appointment of the National Nurse for Public 

14 Health under subparagraph (B), the Secretary 

15 shall appoint the National Nurse for Public 

16 Health in accordance with Commissioned Corps 

17 Instruction CC23.4.6 (relating to Chief Profes18 sional Officer Nominations), as in effect on 

19 February 13, 2008. 

20 ‘‘(B) INITIAL APPOINTMENT.—Not later 

21 than 30 days after the date of enactment of 

22 this section, the Secretary shall appoint the in23 dividual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of 

24 the Public Health Service as the first National 

25 Nurse for Public Health. 


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1 ‘‘(3) RELATION TO POSITION OF CHIEF NURSE

2 OFFICER.—The individual serving as the National 

3 Nurse for Public Health shall also serve as the Chief 

4 Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service. 

5 ‘‘(b) RANK AND GRADE.—The National Nurse for 

6 Public Health shall have the same rank and grade as the 

7 Deputy Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. 

8 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health 

9 shall carry out the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

11 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

12 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

13 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro14 viding representation for the Government of the 

15 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

16 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

17 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

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

19 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

20 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

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

22 levels. 

23 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur24 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

25 Committee on matters such as standards, recruitVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:09 Feb 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H485.IH H485

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1 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

2 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

3 of the Public Health Service. 

4 ‘‘(4) Conduct media campaigns and make per5 sonal appearances for purposes of paragraphs (5) 

6 through (7). 

7 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi8 ties to promote the public health, including encour9 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

10 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

11 public about and engage the public in prevention 

12 practices to achieve better health. 

13 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour14 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

15 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

16 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

17 future nurses. 

18 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi19 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

20 preparedness. 

21 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—HEALTHY

22 PEOPLE 2020.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Nurse for 

24 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen25 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agenVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:09 Feb 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H485.IH H485

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1 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga2 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

3 participate in the identification of national health 

4 priorities. 

5 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR6 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

7 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

8 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

9 strengthen the relationship between Government 

10 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

11 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

13 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

14 for Public Health shall— 

15 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

16 on recommended activities to organiza17 tions; 

18 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

19 and encourage their replication; 

20 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

21 evidence-based practice in educating the 

22 public on health promotion and disease 

23 prevention activities; 

24 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

25 other health professionals, including retired 


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1 health professionals and students enrolled 

2 in health professional programs, to partici3 pate in health promotion activities and rep4 licate successful health promotion activi5 ties; and 

6 ‘‘(v) monitor activities being con7 ducted through the collection and evalua8 tion of data to determine if national health 

9 priorities are being addressed. 

10 ‘‘(B) MEDIA CAMPAIGNS.—The National 

11 Nurse for Public Health shall ensure that 

12 media campaigns conducted under subsection 

13 (c)(4) include media campaigns regarding the 

14 national health priorities. 

15 ‘‘(C) EVALUATIONS.—The National Nurse 

16 for Public Health shall, directly or through 

17 awards of grants or contracts, evaluate the ac18 tivities encouraged by the National Nurse for 

19 Public Health and conducted by community20 based, nonprofit organizations to determine the 

21 extent to which such activities have succeeded 

22 in carrying out national health priorities. 

23 ‘‘(D) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

24 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis25 seminate information to governmental agencies, 


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1 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga2 nizations interested in health promotion and 

3 improving public health through community ac4 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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