critical care practitioners in disaster medical assistance 
teams, the Medical Reserve Corps, and the Public Health 
Service Commissioned Corps. Such report shall include 
recommendations, as necessary, for addressing any short-
ages in the number of such practitioners. 
(b) GUIDELINES OR BEST PRACTICES FOR EMER-
GENCY ICU EVACUATION PRACTICES.— 
(1) DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary, acting through the Director of the Agency 
for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Assist-
ant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, in 
consultation with critical care practitioners, shall de-
velop guidelines or best practices for the evacuation 
of intensive care units during a national health 
emergency, including a pandemic or natural disaster. 
(2) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall design 
the guidelines and best practices under paragraph 
(1) so as to ensure the safe and effective evacuation 
of all individuals regardless of age, disability, or life 
expectancy. 
(c) PANEL ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS DATA-
BASES.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish a panel of emergency preparedness experts to 
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be known as the Panel on Emergency Preparedness 
Databases (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Panel’’). 
(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Secretary shall ensure 
that the membership of the Panel includes experts 
from the public and private sector and experts from 
the critical care community. 
(3) DUTIES.—The Panel shall— 
(A) assess the adequacy of existing na-
tional preparedness databases in facilitating ef-
fective and coordinated local, State, and Fed-
eral medical responses during a national health 
emergency, including a pandemic or natural dis-
aster; 
(B) identify gaps in existing information 
networks; 
(C) recommend specific ways to improve 
awareness of the availability of resources before, 
during, and after an incident; and 
(D) submit to the Secretary a report in-
cluding the assessment, identification, and rec-
ommendations made under subparagraphs (A) 
through (C), respectively. 
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SEC. 6. LIMITATION ON USE OF FINDINGS AND REC-
OMMENDATIONS IN OTHER PROGRAMS. 
(a) PROHIBITION.—In making coverage, reimburse-
ment, or incentive determinations under any program, the 
Secretary may not use any finding or recommendation de-
veloped under this Act— 
(1) in a manner that precludes an individual 
from choosing a health care treatment based on how 
the individual values the tradeoff between extending 
the length of life and the risk of disability; or 
(2) with an intent to discourage an individual 
from so choosing a health care treatment. 
(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Subsection (a) shall 
not be construed to prevent the issuance by the Secretary 
of a finding or recommendation addressing differences due 
to a patient’s age, disability, or terminal illness in the ef-
fectiveness of alternative health care treatments that may 
extend the patient’s life. 
Æ 
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