II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2942 

To establish a Hospital Fund for the treatment of individuals with Ebola 

or other specified infectious diseases. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2014 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a Hospital Fund for the treatment of individuals 

with Ebola or other specified infectious diseases. 

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 ‘‘Infectious Disease 

5 Hospital Hubs Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES EMER7 GENCY FUND. 

8 Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec10 tion 319C–2 the following: 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 319C–3. TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS WITH EBOLA 

2 OR OTHER INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary determines that 

4 there is an emergency, or significant potential for an emer5 gency, that involves a specific infectious disease, the Sec6 retary, after consultation with appropriate public health 

7 officials, may award grants under subsection (b) to pre8 pare for such emergency or potential emergency and 

9 grants to provide compensatory awards under subsection 

10 (c), as may be appropriate. 

11 ‘‘(b) GRANTS FOR SURGE CAPACITY AND TO EN12 HANCE COMMUNITY AND HOSPITAL PREPAREDNESS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award 

14 grants to States to enable such States to improve 

15 surge capacity and enhance community and hospital 

16 preparedness for an emergency involving a specified 

17 infectious disease. 

18 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for an award 

19 under this subsection, a State shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) designate, in consultation with the 

21 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 

22 lead health officials of the State, one or more 

23 hospitals that volunteer to treat individuals with 

24 a specified infectious disease; and 

25 ‘‘(B) submit an application at such time, 

26 in such manner, and containing such informamstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 tion as the Secretary may require, including an 

2 assurance that the State will adhere to any ap3 plicable guidelines established by the Secretary. 

4 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.—An award under this 

5 subsection shall be expended for any of the following 

6 activities needed to treat individuals with a specified 

7 infectious disease: 

8 ‘‘(A) Renovating, constructing, or retro9 fitting a hospital or building. 

10 ‘‘(B) Purchasing mobile specialized infec11 tious disease isolation units and equipment. 

12 ‘‘(C) Acquiring personal protective equip13 ment to be used by health care workers during 

14 management of patients. 

15 ‘‘(D) Hiring additional staff as necessary 

16 to replace staff assigned to treat individuals 

17 with a specified infectious disease. 

18 ‘‘(E) Overtime of existing staff for treat19 ment of individuals with a specified infectious 

20 disease. 

21 ‘‘(F) Handling, transporting, and dis22 posing of waste related to the specialized treat23 ment of a specified infectious disease. 

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1 ‘‘(G) Covering direct and indirect costs as2 sociated with treatment of a specified infectious 

3 disease. 

4 ‘‘(H) Training health care professionals 

5 and other hospital staff, as appropriate, regard6 ing— 

7 ‘‘(i) procedures and protocols with re8 spect to a specified infectious disease; 

9 ‘‘(ii) appropriate use of personal pro10 tective equipment; 

11 ‘‘(iii) screening questions, triage tech12 niques, and health information technology 

13 related to an infectious disease, such as 

14 Ebola; 

15 ‘‘(iv) identification, testing, and speci16 men collection and transport procedures 

17 with respect to a specified infectious dis18 ease; 

19 ‘‘(v) isolation and quarantine proce20 dures; 

21 ‘‘(vi) cleaning and disinfection proto22 cols; 

23 ‘‘(vii) handling, transporting, and dis24 posing of waste related to the specialized 

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1 treatment of a specified infectious disease; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(viii) handling of human remains of 

4 patients with a specified infectious disease. 

5 ‘‘(4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, 

6 acting through the Director of the Centers for Dis7 ease Control and Prevention, the Assistant Secretary 

8 for Preparedness and Response, or other heads of 

9 agencies of the Department of Health and Human 

10 Services, may provide to States awarded grants 

11 under this subsection technical assistance on— 

12 ‘‘(A) procedures and protocols with respect 

13 to a specified infectious disease; 

14 ‘‘(B) appropriate use of personal protective 

15 equipment; 

16 ‘‘(C) screening questions, triage tech17 niques, and health information technology re18 lated to an infectious disease, such as Ebola; 

19 ‘‘(D) identification, testing, and specimen 

20 collection and transport procedures with respect 

21 to a specified infectious disease; 

22 ‘‘(E) isolation and quarantine procedures; 

23 ‘‘(F) cleaning and disinfection protocols; 

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1 ‘‘(G) handling, transport, and disposal of 

2 waste related to the specialized treatment of a 

3 specified infectious disease; or 

4 ‘‘(H) handling of human remains of pa5 tients with a specified infectious disease. 

6 ‘‘(c) GRANTS FOR DISTRIBUTION OF COMPENSATORY

7 AWARDS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award 

9 additional grants to States that receive a grant 

10 under subsection (b) for the purpose of distributing 

11 compensatory awards to any hospital within the 

12 State that has been designated under subsection 

13 (b)(2)(A) and has treated an individual with a speci14 fied infectious disease. 

15 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded under 

16 this subsection shall be distributed to any hospital 

17 described in paragraph (1) in order to compensate 

18 such hospital for— 

19 ‘‘(A) documented costs associated with the 

20 specialized treatment of an individual with a 

21 specified infectious disease, except such com22 pensation may not be provided for the cost of 

23 any treatment, payment for which has been 

24 made, or can reasonably be expected to be 

25 made, under any State compensation program, 

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1 under an insurance policy, under any Federal 

2 or State health benefits program, or by an enti3 ty that provides health services on prepaid 

4 basis; or 

5 ‘‘(B) damages for lost business activity or 

6 lost services directly attributable to the special7 ized treatment of a specific infectious disease, 

8 provided that such damages are supported by a 

9 reasonably accurate measurement or estimate, 

10 including appropriate documentation supporting 

11 the claim. 

12 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) the term ‘infectious disease’ means a dis14 ease that the Secretary determines to be infectious 

15 and to require isolation and specialized treatment; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘specified infectious disease’ 

18 means an infectious disease with respect to which 

19 the Secretary determines under subsection (a) there 

20 is an emergency or a significant potential for an 

21 emergency. 

22 ‘‘(e) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—A State receiving 

23 funds under subsection (b) or (c) shall expend such funds 

24 solely for any of the purposes described in paragraphs (3) 

25 and (4) of subsection (b) or solely for disbursement to hosmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 pitals under subsection (c)(2), as applicable. Any funds 

2 not so expended or disbursed within 90 days of receipt 

3 of such funds shall be returned to the Secretary and shall 

4 remain available for the purpose of carrying out this sec5 tion. 

6 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

7 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro8 priated $125,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2015 

9 through 2019, to remain available until expended.’’. 

Æ 

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