athy, dentistry, and emergency response teams can 
enhance procedural skills and reinforce best prac-
tices by allowing students, experienced clinicians, 
and health care professionals to practice procedures 
in a realistic setting. 
(2) The enhanced clinical skill development pro-
vided by simulation-based training benefits patients 
and health care consumers in the form of improved 
health outcomes, patient safety, and quality; reduced 
medical errors and deaths; and reduced costs associ-
ated with providing patient care. 
(3) Many educational institutions and health 
care providers, particularly those in urban and rural 
settings, have difficulty acquiring medical simulation 
technology. Financial assistance in the form of Fed-
eral grants would significantly enhance the ability of 
these entities to deploy medical simulation tech-
nology and incorporate such technology into training 
protocols. 
(4) The creation of medical simulation centers 
of excellence to provide guidance and leadership to 
educational institutions and health care entities will 
facilitate the deployment of medical simulation tech-
nologies and the commercialization of cutting-edge 
medical simulation research. 
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(5) A Federal medical simulation coordinating 
council would promote better communication and 
collaboration between the Federal entities with expe-
rience or interest in simulation-based education and 
medical simulation technology deployment. 
SEC. 3. MEDICAL SIMULATION ENHANCEMENT. 
Part B of title IX of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 299b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 918. MEDICAL SIMULATION ENHANCEMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall conduct and 
support research, evaluations, initiatives, and demonstra-
tion projects, and provide grants or enter into contracts 
or cooperative agreements, to enhance the deployment of 
medical simulation technologies and the incorporation of 
such technologies and equipment into medical, nursing, al-
lied health, podiatric, osteopathic, and dental education 
and training protocols. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAMS.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Director shall establish the following programs: 
‘‘(1) MEDICAL SIMULATION CENTERS OF EX-
CELLENCE.— 
‘‘(A) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Director 
shall establish medical simulation centers of ex-
cellence— 
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‘‘(i) to provide leadership and conduct 
research with respect to enhancing and ex-
panding the utilization of medical simula-
tion technologies and simulation-based 
skills training for physicians, nurses, allied 
health professionals, and qualified stu-
dents; and 
‘‘(ii) to improve the efficiency and ef-
fectiveness of medical simulation research 
and programs. 
‘‘(B) PURPOSE.—Each medical simulation 
center of excellence established under sub-
section (a) shall— 
‘‘(i) provide leadership in a specific 
area of medical simulation technology or 
knowledge; 
‘‘(ii) enhance and expand the knowl-
edge base within the specific area of med-
ical simulation technology or knowledge in 
line with the program requirements and 
the long-term interests of the medical sim-
ulation community; and 
‘‘(iii) serve as a resource center to in-
terested health professional schools and in-
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dividuals who want to learn about medical 
simulation. 
‘‘(2) MEDICAL SIMULATION INNOVATION.—The 
Director shall promote innovation in medical simula-
tion technologies and encourage development and de-
ployment of challenging and complex medical simula-
tion technologies and applications by— 
‘‘(A) conducting and supporting research 
on the development and deployment of complex 
or challenging medical simulation and inter-
disciplinary simulation technologies; 
‘‘(B) identifying, in consultation with the 
Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Re-
search Center, particularly challenging or com-
plex medical simulation technologies and appli-
cations; and 
‘‘(C) developing, in consultation with the 
National Library of Medicine, an electronic 
clearinghouse of medical simulation technologies 
currently available and those being developed. 
‘‘(3) MEDICAL SIMULATION TECHNOLOGY AC-
QUISITION.— 
‘‘(A) GRANTS.—The Director shall award 
grants to eligible entities for the purchase of 
medical simulation technologies for use in the 
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training of physicians, nurses, allied health pro-
fessionals, and qualified students. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘eligible entity’ means a hospital, an aca-
demic medical center, or a school of allied 
health, dentistry, medicine, nursing, osteopathic 
medicine, or podiatric medicine. 
‘‘(4) MEDICAL
AND
INTERDISCIPLINARY
SIM-
ULATION CURRICULA.— 
‘‘(A) GRANTS.—The Director shall award 
grants to eligible entities to incorporate medical 
simulation 
and 
interdisciplinary 
simulation 
technologies into curricula and training of phy-
sicians, nurses, and allied health professionals. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the 
term ‘eligible entity’ means an academic med-
ical center or a school of medicine, osteopathy, 
podiatry, dentistry, nursing, or allied health. 
‘‘(5) GRANTS
TO
PROFESSIONAL
ORGANIZA-
TIONS.— 
‘‘(A) GRANTS.—The Director shall award 
grants to eligible entities to deploy medical sim-
ulation technologies for the purpose of pro-
viding training to health care providers. 
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‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘eligible entity’ means an academic med-
ical center, a professional organization that pro-
vides accreditation or quality assurance to 
health care professionals, a health profession li-
censing board, or an agency studying utilization 
of simulation-based methods in credentialing 
and accreditation in health care. 
‘‘(6) FEDERAL MEDICAL SIMULATION COORDI-
NATING COUNCIL.— 
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is estab-
lished within the Department of Health and 
Human Services the Federal Medical Simula-
tion Coordinating Council (in this paragraph re-
ferred to as the ‘Coordinating Council’). 
‘‘(B) PURPOSE.—The Coordinating Coun-
cil shall coordinate the Federal Government’s 
activities regarding the research on and devel-
opment, deployment, and utilization of medical 
simulation technologies. 
‘‘(C) 
VOTING
MEMBERS.—The 
voting 
members of the Coordinating Council shall con-
sist of representatives of Federal agencies with 
responsibility for improving health care delivery 
to patients, as follows: 
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ordinating Council shall consult with outside or-
ganizations on ways to improve medical simula-
tion policy and access. 
‘‘(G) MEETINGS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Coordinating 
Council shall meet regularly and no less 
than 2 times each year. 
‘‘(ii) NOTICE.—Notice of any upcom-
ing meeting of the Coordinating Council 
shall be published in the Federal Register. 
‘‘(iii) PUBLIC ACCESS.—Any meeting 
of the Coordinating Council shall be open 
to the public. 
‘‘(c) ADVISORY PANEL.—The Director shall establish 
an advisory panel to make recommendations on how to 
structure the programs under subsection (b). The mem-
bers of such advisory panel shall consist of a total of at 
least 10 representatives of the medical simulation commu-
nity, including representatives of— 
‘‘(1) academic medical centers or schools of 
medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, dentistry, nursing, or 
allied health; 
‘‘(2) health care professionals who are actively 
involved in medical simulation centers; and 
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‘‘(3) at least 2 multidisciplinary associations 
which are recognized as having a primary focus on 
medical simulation. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.— 
‘‘(1) MEDICAL SIMULATION.—The term ‘med-
ical simulation’ means the use of a device, such as 
a mannequin, a task trainer, virtual reality, or a 
standardized patient, to emulate a real device, pa-
tient, or patient care situation or environment to 
teach therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, proc-
esses, medical concepts, and decisionmaking to a 
health care professional. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED STUDENT.—The term ‘quali-
fied student’ means a student enrolled full-time or 
part-time in— 
‘‘(A) a school of allied health, a school of 
dentistry, a school of medicine, a school of os-
teopathic medicine, or a school of podiatric 
medicine (as such terms are defined in section 
799B); or 
‘‘(B) a school of nursing (as such term is 
defined in section 801). 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—To 
carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro-
priated— 
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‘‘(1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and 
‘‘(2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 
years 2009 through 2012.’’. 
Æ 
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