SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Hepatitis B 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Approximately 1.4 million Americans are 
chronically infected with hepatitis B. The number of 
chronically infected persons in the United States is 
believed to be increasing each year with the influx of 
new immigrants from areas where it is endemic. 
(2) Hepatitis B is extremely infectious. In fact, 
the disease is 100 times more infectious than HIV. 
The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is transmitted the 
same way as HIV: from mother to newborn at birth, 
from infected blood or injections contaminated by in-
fected blood, and from unprotected sex. 
(3) Chronic hepatitis B usually does not cause 
any symptoms early in the course of the disease, but 
after many years of a clinically ‘‘silent’’ phase, as 
many as 25 percent of infected individuals may de-
velop end-stage liver disease or liver cancer. 
(4) The major burden of hepatitis B infection 
in the United States is from chronic hepatitis B in-
fection. Persons chronically infected with hepatitis B 
are at higher risk of developing cirrhosis (scarring) 
of the liver and liver cancer, both of which can lead 
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to premature death. About 5,000 deaths per year in 
the United States can be attributed to chronic hepa-
titis B infection. 
(5) Chronic hepatitis B infection disproportion-
ately affects certain occupations and populations in 
the United States. Although representing only four 
percent of the population, Asian Americans and Pa-
cific Islanders account for over half of the 1.4 mil-
lion chronic hepatitis B cases in the United States. 
(6) Hepatitis B infection is preventable through 
currently available vaccinations and by reducing 
high-risk behavior. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe 
and effective and has the designation of being the 
‘‘first anti-cancer vaccine’’. 
(7) The diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B infec-
tion can be made with a simple blood test that is in-
expensive and widely available. The early diagnosis 
of chronic hepatitis B can reduce the risk of further 
transmission of the virus through harm reduction 
education and the vaccination of household members 
and other susceptible persons at risk. 
(8) If the diagnosis of hepatitis B infection is 
made at an early stage of the infection, treatment of 
chronic hepatitis B infection with antiviral therapy 
similar to that employed in HIV, when appropriate, 
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can reduce the risk of progression to liver cancer 
and cirrhosis. 
(9) For those who are chronically infected, reg-
ular monitoring can lead to the early detection of 
liver cancer at a stage where cure is still possible. 
Liver cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer 
and one that has received little funding for research 
and prevention. 
(10) Although the costs of education, research, 
and treatment are not trivial, they are substantially 
less than the annual health care cost attributable to 
hepatitis B in the United States, which is estimated 
to be approximately $2.5 billion ($2000 per infected 
person). The lifetime cost of the hepatitis B virus in 
2000—before the availability of most of the current 
therapies—was approximately $80,000 per person 
chronically infected, or more than $100 billion. 
SEC. 3. COMPREHENSIVE HEPATITIS B PREVENTION, EDU-
CATION, RESEARCH, AND MEDICAL MANAGE-
MENT PROGRAM. 
Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
241 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end of the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘PART S—COMPREHENSIVE HEPATITIS B PRE-
VENTION, 
EDUCATION, 
RESEARCH, 
AND 
MEDICAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 
‘‘SEC. 399FF. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop and 
implement a plan for the prevention, control, and medical 
management of hepatitis B, which includes strategies for 
expanded vaccination programs, primary and secondary 
preventive education and training, surveillance and early 
detection, and research. 
‘‘(b) INPUT IN DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—In devel-
oping the plan under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) be guided by existing recommendations of 
the Department of Health and Human Services, the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the 
National Institutes of Health; and 
‘‘(2) consult with— 
‘‘(A) the Director of the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention; 
‘‘(B) the Director of the National Insti-
tutes of Health; 
‘‘(C) the Director of the National Cancer 
Institute; 
‘‘(D) the Administrator of the Health Re-
sources and Services Administration; 
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‘‘(E) the Administrator of the Substance 
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administra-
tion; 
‘‘(F) the heads of other Federal agencies 
or offices providing education services to indi-
viduals with viral hepatitis; 
‘‘(G) medical advisory bodies, such as the 
National Task Force on Hepatitis B: Focus on 
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, the Na-
tional Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, the Asian 
Liver Center at Stanford University, the Hepa-
titis B Foundation, the American Liver Foun-
dation, Hepatitis Foundation International, and 
the Center for the Study of Asian American 
Health; and 
‘‘(H) the public, including— 
‘‘(i) individuals infected with hepatitis 
B; and 
‘‘(ii) advocates concerned with issues 
related to hepatitis B. 
‘‘(c) BIENNIAL UPDATE OF THE PLAN.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con-
duct a biennial assessment of the plan developed 
under subsection (a) for the purposes of— 
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