I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3279 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the Department 

of Veterans Affairs centers of excellence for rural health research, education, and clinical activities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2009 

Mr. RODRIGUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the 

Department of Veterans Affairs centers of excellence for 

rural health research, education, and clinical activities, 

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. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR RURAL 

4 HEALTH RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND CLIN5 ICAL ACTIVITIES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 of 

7 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 7330B. Centers of excellence for rural health re2 search, education, and clinical activities 

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTERS.—The Secretary, 

4 through the Director of the Office of Rural Health, shall 

5 establish and operate not less than one and not more than 

6 five centers of excellence for rural health research, edu7 cation, and clinical activities, which shall— 

8 ‘‘(1) conduct research on the provision of health 

9 services in rural areas; 

10 ‘‘(2) develop specific models to be used by the 

11 Department in furnishing health services to veterans 

12 in rural areas; 

13 ‘‘(3) provide education and training for health 

14 care professionals of the Department on the fur15 nishing of health services to veterans in rural areas; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(4) develop and implement innovative clinical 

18 activities and systems of care for the Department 

19 for the furnishing of health services to veterans in 

20 rural areas. 

21 ‘‘(b) GEOGRAPHIC DISPERSION.—The Secretary shall 

22 ensure that the centers established under this section are 

23 located at health care facilities that are geographically dis24 persed throughout the United States. 


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1 ‘‘(c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary may not 

2 designate a health care facility as a location for a center 

3 under this section unless— 

4 ‘‘(1) the peer review panel established under 

5 subsection (d) determines that the proposal sub6 mitted by such facility meets the highest competitive 

7 standards of scientific and clinical merit; and 

8 ‘‘(2) the Secretary determines that such facility 

9 has, or may reasonably be anticipated to develop, the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(A) An arrangement with an accredited 

12 medical school to provide residents with edu13 cation and training in health services for vet14 erans in rural areas. 

15 ‘‘(B) The ability to attract the participa16 tion of scientists who are capable of ingenuity 

17 and creativity in health care research efforts. 

18 ‘‘(C) A policymaking advisory committee, 

19 composed of appropriate health care and re20 search representatives of the facility and of the 

21 affiliated school or schools, to advise the direc22 tors of such facility and such center on policy 

23 matters pertaining to the activities of such cen24 ter during the period of the operation of such 

25 center. 


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1 ‘‘(D) The capability to conduct effectively 

2 evaluations of the activities of such center. 

3 ‘‘(d) PANEL TO EVALUATE PROPOSALS.—(1) The 

4 Director of the Office of Rural Health shall establish a 

5 panel— 

6 ‘‘(A) to evaluate the scientific and clinical 

7 merit of proposals submitted to establish cen8 ters under this section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) to provide advice to the Director re10 garding the implementation of this section. 

11 ‘‘(2) The panel shall review each proposal re12 ceived from the Secretary and shall submit its views 

13 on the relative scientific and clinical merit of each 

14 such proposal to the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(3) The panel established under paragraph (1) 

16 shall be comprised of experts in the fields of public 

17 health research, education, and clinical care. 

18 ‘‘(4) Members of the panel shall serve as con19 sultants to the Department for a period not to ex20 ceed two years. 

21 ‘‘(5) The panel shall not be subject to the Fed22 eral Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.). 

23 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.—Not later than April 1 of each year, 

24 the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 


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1 centers established under this section. Such report shall 

2 include— 

3 ‘‘(1) the results of research conducted under 

4 subsection (a)(1); 

5 ‘‘(2) an evaluation of models related to fur6 nishing health services to veterans in rural areas de7 veloped under subsection (a)(2); 

8 ‘‘(3) an evaluation of the education and train9 ing provided under subsection (a)(3); and 

10 ‘‘(4) an evaluation of clinical activities or sys11 tems of care related to furnishing health services to 

12 veterans in rural areas developed under subsection 

13 (a)(4). 

14 ‘‘(f) FUNDING.—(1) There are authorized to be ap15 propriated to the Medical Care Account and the Medical 

16 and Prosthetics Research Account of the Department of 

17 Veterans Affairs such sums as may be necessary for the 

18 support of the research and education activities of the cen19 ters operated under this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) There shall be allocated to the centers op21 erated under this section, from amounts authorized 

22 to be appropriated to the Medical Care Account and 

23 the Medical and Prosthetics Research Account by 

24 paragraph (1), such amounts as the Under Sec25 retary of health considers appropriate for such cenVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:36 Jul 22, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3279.IH H3279

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1 ters. Such amounts shall be allocated through the 

2 Director of the Office of Rural Health. 

3 ‘‘(3) Activities of clinical and scientific inves4 tigation at each center operated under this section— 

5 ‘‘(A) shall be eligible to compete for the 

6 award of funding from funds appropriated for 

7 the Medical and Prosthetics Research Account; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(B) shall receive priority in the award of 

10 funding from such account to the extent that 

11 funds are awarded to projects for research in 

12 the care of rural veterans.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 at the beginning of chapter 73 of such title is amended 

15 by inserting after the item relating to section 7330A the 

16 following new item: 

‘‘7330B. Centers of excellence for rural health research, education, and clinical 

activities.’’. 

Æ 


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