I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6389 
To reduce disparities and improve access to effective and cost efficient diag-
nosis and treatment of prostate cancer through advances in testing, 
research, and education, including through telehealth, comparative effec-
tiveness research, and identification of best practices in patient education 
and outreach particularly with respect to underserved racial, ethnic and 
rural populations and men with a family history of prostate cancer, 
to establish a directive on what constitutes clinically appropriate prostate 
cancer imaging, and to create a prostate cancer scientific advisory board 
for the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Food and Drug Administration 
to accelerate real-time sharing of the latest research and accelerate 
movement of new medicines to patients. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 
Mr. TOWNS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Armed 
Services and Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To reduce disparities and improve access to effective and 
cost efficient diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer 
through advances in testing, research, and education, 
including through telehealth, comparative effectiveness 
research, and identification of best practices in patient 
education and outreach particularly with respect to un-
derserved racial, ethnic and rural populations and men 
with a family history of prostate cancer, to establish 
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a directive on what constitutes clinically appropriate 
prostate cancer imaging, and to create a prostate cancer 
scientific advisory board for the Office of the Chief Sci-
entist at the Food and Drug Administration to accelerate 
real-time sharing of the latest research and accelerate 
movement of new medicines to patients. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prostate Research, 
Outreach, Screening, Testing, Access, and Treatment Ef-
fectiveness Act of 2010’’ or the ‘‘PROSTATE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Prostate cancer is the second leading cause 
of cancer death among men. 
(2) In 2009, more than 190,000 new patients 
were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 
27,000 men died from this disease. 
(3) Roughly 2,000,000 Americans are living 
with a diagnosis of prostate cancer and its con-
sequences. 
(4) While prostate cancer generally affects older 
individuals, younger men are also at risk for the dis-
ease, and when prostate cancer appears in early 
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middle age it frequently takes on a more aggressive 
form. 
(5) There are significant racial and ethnic dis-
parities that demand attention, namely African- 
Americans have prostate cancer mortality rates that 
are more than double those in the White population. 
(6) Underserved rural populations have higher 
rates of mortality compared to their urban counter-
parts, and innovative and cost-efficient methods to 
improve rural access to high quality care should take 
advantage of advances in telehealth to diagnose and 
treat prostate cancer when appropriate. 
(7) Urologists may constitute the specialists 
who diagnose and treat the vast majority of prostate 
cancer patients. 
(8) Although much basic and translational re-
search has been completed and much is currently 
known, there are still many unanswered questions. 
For example, it is not fully understood how much of 
known disparities are attributable to disease eti-
ology, access to care, or education and awareness in 
the community. 
(9) Causes of prostate cancer are not known. 
There is not good information regarding how to dif-
ferentiate accurately, early on, between aggressive 
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and indolent forms of the disease. As a result, there 
is significant overtreatment in prostate cancer. 
There are no treatments that can durably arrest 
growth or cure prostate cancer once it has metasta-
sized. 
(10) A significant proportion (roughly 23 to 54 
percent) of cases may be clinically indolent and 
‘‘overdiagnosed’’, resulting in significant overtreat-
ment. More accurate tests will allow men and their 
families to face less physical, psychological, financial, 
and emotional trauma and billions of dollars could 
be saved in private and public health care systems 
in an area that has been identified by the Medicare 
program as one of eight high volume, high cost areas 
in the Resource Utilization Report program author-
ized by Congress under the Medicare Improvements 
for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. 
(11) Prostate cancer research and health care 
programs across Federal agencies should be coordi-
nated to improve accountability and actively encour-
age the translation of research into practice, to iden-
tify and implement best practices, in order to foster 
an integrated and consistent focus on effective pre-
vention, diagnosis, and treatment of this disease. 
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SEC. 3. PROSTATE CANCER COORDINATION AND EDU-
CATION. 
(a) INTERAGENCY PROSTATE CANCER COORDINA-
TION AND EDUCATION TASK FORCE.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this section, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in cooperation with the Sec-
retary of Defense and the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, shall establish an Interagency Prostate Cancer 
Coordination and Education Task Force (in this section 
referred to as the ‘‘Prostate Cancer Task Force’’). 
(b) DUTIES.—The Prostate Cancer Task Force 
shall— 
(1) develop a summary of advances in prostate 
cancer research supported or conducted by Federal 
agencies relevant to the diagnosis, prevention, and 
treatment of prostate cancer and compile a list of 
best practices that warrant broader adoption in 
health care programs; 
(2) consider establishing, and advocating for, a 
guidance to enable physicians to allow screening of 
men who are over age 74, on a case-by-case basis, 
taking into account quality of life and family history 
of prostate cancer; 
(3) share and coordinate information on Fed-
eral research and health care program activities, in-
cluding activities related to— 
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