‘‘(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 
the Director of the National Institute for Occupa-
tional Safety and Health. 
‘‘(4) ILO CLASSIFICATION.—The term ‘ILO 
classification’ means the standardized categorization 
of chest radiographs for findings consistent with 
pneumoconiosis using the International Classifica-
tion of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses by the Inter-
national Labor Organization. 
‘‘(5) B READER PANEL POOL.—The term ‘B 
Reader Panel Pool’ means the group of physicians 
included in the pool described in subsection (c). 
‘‘(b) B READER PANEL PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall es-
tablish, in the National Institute for Occupa-
tional Safety and Health, a pilot program to be 
known as the ‘B Reader Panel Program’. The 
B Reader Panel Program shall establish B 
Reader Panels that— 
‘‘(i) are operated in a manner to as-
sure accurate ILO classifications, which 
may be used for claims for benefits de-
scribed in subparagraph (C); 
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‘‘(ii) only classify chest radiographs; 
and 
‘‘(iii) classify all appearances de-
scribed in the International Classification 
of Radiographs of Pneumoconiosis or illus-
trated by the ILO Standard Radiographs. 
‘‘(B) DURATION.—The B Reader Panel 
Program established under this section shall be 
conducted for a duration of one year, beginning 
after the issuance of necessary protocols and in-
terim final rules under subsection (h). 
‘‘(C) APPLICABILITY.—A chest radiograph 
classification may only be requested under this 
section for a claim for benefits under this title 
where the presence or absence of complicated 
pneumoconiosis or progressive massive fibrosis 
(large opacities greater than or equal to cat-
egory A of the ILO classification) is in fact at 
issue. 
‘‘(2) PROGRAM PERSONNEL MATTERS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director may hire 
such personnel as are necessary to establish, 
manage, and evaluate the B Reader Panel Pro-
gram, including a B Reader Program Director 
described in subparagraph (B). 
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‘‘(B) B READER
PROGRAM
DIRECTOR.— 
The B Reader Program Director shall be a phy-
sician who is a B Reader and has documented 
expertise in ILO classifications. 
‘‘(C) STAFF.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In procuring the 
services of B Readers for this section, the 
Director may hire Federal personnel, con-
tract for services, or both. 
‘‘(ii) COMPENSATION.—The Director 
shall establish compensation rates for B 
Readers who are hired under contract. 
‘‘(3) ETHICS POLICY.— 
‘‘(A) CODE OF ETHICS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In order to maxi-
mize the quality, objectivity, and con-
fidence in ILO classifications under this 
section, the Director shall establish a bind-
ing code of ethics to which all B Readers 
in the B Reader Panel Pool shall agree to 
in writing and adhere. 
‘‘(ii) CONTENTS.—The code of ethics 
shall include— 
‘‘(I) definitions and stipulations 
of procedures dealing with actual and 
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apparent conflicts of interest and the 
appearance of bias or lack of suffi-
cient impartiality; 
‘‘(II) a requirement that each 
such B Reader submits a conflict of 
interest disclosure statement to the 
Director and annually updates such 
statement; and 
‘‘(III) requirements for the con-
tent of the conflict of interest disclo-
sure statements required under sub-
clause (II). 
‘‘(B) B READER
ETHICS
OFFICER.—The 
Director shall designate an employee of the Na-
tional Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health as the B Reader Ethics Officer whose 
responsibilities shall include— 
‘‘(i) reviewing all conflict of interest 
disclosures of B Readers on the B Reader 
Panel Pool; 
‘‘(ii) investigating the validity of such 
disclosures; 
‘‘(iii) maintaining a list of such B 
Readers who fail to disclose a conflict of 
interest; 
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‘‘(iv) addressing complaints about in-
complete or inaccurate conflict of interest 
disclosures; 
‘‘(v) assessing whether any such B 
Reader has been improperly assigned to a 
panel due to a conflict of interest; and 
‘‘(vi) assuring full transparency of 
conflict of interest disclosures to the pub-
lic. 
‘‘(4) QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(A) PROTOCOLS.— 
‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director 
shall establish a quality assurance program 
consisting of protocols to ensure that the 
results produced by B Reader Panels meet 
or exceed standards of performance re-
quired for accuracy and consistency. 
‘‘(ii) 
PROTOCOLS.—The 
protocols 
under this subparagraph shall include pro-
tocols— 
‘‘(I) for each B Reader to pre-
pare an individual ILO classification 
report for each chest radiograph; and 
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‘‘(II) for the preparation of a 
final ILO classification report for the 
chest radiograph. 
‘‘(iii) ADDITIONAL
REVIEWERS.—If 
individual ILO classifications reported by 
each B Reader of a B Reader Panel di-
verge from each other by more than an ac-
ceptable variance, as determined by proto-
cols established under subsection (h), the 
Director shall assign additional B Readers 
to the applicable B Reader Panel or con-
vene an additional B Reader Panel, as the 
Director determines necessary, to assure 
that the ILO classification report of the 
initial B Reader Panel is accurate and sci-
entifically valid. 
‘‘(iv) USE OF KNOWN POSITIVE AND 
NEGATIVE X-RAYS AS A QUALITY CONTROL 
TOOL.—The quality assurance program 
under this paragraph shall use pre-read 
radiographs, for which ILO classifications 
have been previously established as exter-
nal standards, with sufficient frequency in 
order to assure that B Readers on B Read-
er Panels read radiographs that are bor-
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