I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4548 
To authorize the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
to award grants to eligible counties for the use of mobile clinics and 
distance learning and telemedicine to diagnose and treat children with 
asthma in rural areas and medically underserved communities, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 
Mr. VARGAS (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. COX of California) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce 
A BILL 
To authorize the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention to award grants to eligible counties for 
the use of mobile clinics and distance learning and tele-
medicine to diagnose and treat children with asthma 
in rural areas and medically underserved communities, 
and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Asthma Care and Pre-
vention in Rural Communities Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Asthma has a high morbidity and can even 
lead to death if not properly managed. 
(2) Nationally, over 25 million people suffer 
from asthma according to the most recent statistics 
from the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion. 
(3) Nationally, of those who suffer from asth-
ma, 43.6 percent of adults report one or more asth-
ma attacks annually, and of all children who suffer 
from asthma, 51.6 percent report one or more asth-
ma attacks annually. 
(4) Nationally the prevalence of asthma among 
children is 8.4 percent. 
(5) When asthma is controlled, it can lead to 
fewer school and work days missed, hospitalizations, 
and emergency room visits. 
(6) While asthma is often believed to be a 
greater problem for urban centers, the burden of 
asthma on rural communities in the United States 
is understudied. 
(7) Some research suggests that certain rural 
areas face the same risk factors as cities. 
(8) Research shows that rural communities may 
have a harder time accessing care for asthma, due 
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to lack of transportation to and the distance of resi-
dents from health care services. 
(9) Mobile asthma clinics have been proven to 
help medically underserved communities manage this 
disease while providing cost-saving measures. 
SEC. 3. ADDRESSING THE BURDEN OF ASTHMA IN RURAL 
AREAS AND MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED COM-
MUNITIES. 
(a) GRANTS FOR MOBILE CLINICS AND DISTANCE 
LEARNING AND TELEMEDICINE.— 
(1) AUTHORIZATION.—The Director of the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention may award 
grants to eligible counties for the use of mobile clin-
ics and distance learning and telemedicine— 
(A) to diagnose and treat children with 
asthma in rural areas, and medically under-
served communities, in eligible counties; and 
(B) to educate individuals in such areas 
and communities about asthma. 
(2) SUBGRANTS.—An eligible county receiving a 
grant under paragraph (1) may use the grant funds 
to award subgrants to schools, hospitals, or other 
local organizations to administer mobile clinics and 
distance learning and telemedicine in the county for 
the purposes listed in paragraph (1). 
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(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
(A) The term ‘‘children’’ means individuals 
under 18 years of age. 
(B) The term ‘‘eligible counties’’ means 
counties that each have a prevalence of asthma 
of 12 percent or higher among children. 
(C) The term ‘‘medically underserved com-
munity’’ has the meaning given such term in 
section 799B of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 295p). 
(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 
carry out this subsection, there is authorized to be 
appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2020 through 2024. 
(b) STUDY.—The Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention shall— 
(1) conduct a study on— 
(A) the burden of asthma in rural areas of 
the United States; 
(B) risk and protective factors for asthma 
in such areas; and 
(C) best practices for preventing and treat-
ing asthma in such areas; 
(2) ensure that data used in such study is 
disaggregated such that no racial or ethnic subgroup 
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is overlooked due to the absence of asthma in the 
larger group to which that subgroup belongs; and 
(3) not later than 1 year after the date of en-
actment of this Act, complete such study and submit 
a report to the Congress on the results of such 
study. 
Æ 
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