A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program to provide assistance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of poison centers, and enhance the public health of people of the United States.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Poison Center Support, Enhancement, 
and Awareness Act of 2008''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) Poison control centers are the primary defense of the 
    United States against injury and deaths from poisoning. Twenty-four 
    hours a day, the general public as well as health care 
    practitioners contact their local poison control centers for help 
    in diagnosing and treating victims of poisoning. In 2007, more than 
    4,000,000 calls were managed by poison control centers providing 
    ready and direct access for all people of the United States, 
    including many underserved populations in the United States, with 
    vital emergency public health information and response.
        (2) Poisoning is the second most common form of unintentional 
    death in the United States. In any given year, there will be 
    between 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 poison exposures. Sixty percent of 
    these exposures will involve children under the age of 6 who are 
    exposed to toxins in their home. Poisoning accounts for 285,000 
    hospitalizations, 1,200,000 days of acute hospital care, and more 
    than 26,000 fatalities in 2005.
        (3) In 2008, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center 
    reported that poisonings from accidents and unknown circumstances 
    more than tripled in rate since 1990. In 2005, the last year for 
    which data are available, 26,858 people died from accidental or 
    unknown poisonings. This represents an increase of 20,000 since 
    1990 and an increase of 2,400 between 2004 and 2005. Fatalities 
    from poisoning are increasing in the United States in near epidemic 
    proportions. The funding of programs to reverse this trend is 
    needed now more than ever.
        (4) In 2004, The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy 
    of Sciences recommended that ``Congress should amend the current 
    Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act Amendments of 
    2003 to provide sufficient funding to support the proposed Poison 
    Prevention and Control System with its national network of poison 
    centers. Support for the core activities at the current level of 
    service is estimated to require more than $100 million annually.''.
        (5) Sustaining the funding structure and increasing 
    accessibility to poison control centers will promote the 
    utilization of poison control centers and reduce the inappropriate 
    use of emergency medical services and other more costly health care 
    services. The 2004 Institute of Medicine Report to Congress 
    determined that for every $1 invested in the Nation's poison 
    control centers $7 of health care costs are saved. In 2005, direct 
    Federal health care program savings totaled in excess of 
    $525,000,000 as the result of poison control center public health 
    services.
        (6) More than 30 percent of the cost savings and financial 
    benefits of the Nation's network of poison control centers are 
    realized annually by Federal health care programs (estimated to be 
    more than $1,000,000,000), yet Federal funding support (as 
    demonstrated by the annual authorization of $30,100,000 in Public 
    Law 108-194) comprises less than 11 percent of the annual network 
    expenditures of poison centers.
        (7) Real-time data collected from the Nation's certified poison 
    control centers can be an important source of information for the 
    detection, monitoring, and response for contamination of the air, 
    water, pharmaceutical, or food supply.
        (8) In the event of a terrorist event, poison control centers 
    will be relied upon as a critical source for accurate medical 
    information and public health emergency response concerning the 
    treatment of patients who have had an exposure to a chemical, 
    radiological, or biological agent.
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS NATIONAL TOLL-FREE 
NUMBER.
    Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-71) 
is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 1271. MAINTENANCE OF THE NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.
    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall provide coordination and 
assistance to poison control centers for the establishment of a 
nationwide toll-free phone number, and the maintenance of such number, 
to be used to access such centers.
    ``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 to carry out this section, 
and $700,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for the 
maintenance of the nationwide toll free phone number under subsection 
(a).''.
SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON 
CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION.
    (a) In General.--Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300d-72) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER 
UTILIZATION.
    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out, and expand upon, 
a national media campaign to educate the public and health care 
providers about poison prevention and the availability of poison 
control center resources in local communities and to conduct 
advertising campaigns concerning the nationwide toll-free number 
established under section 1271(a).
    ``(b) Contract With Entity.--The Secretary may carry out subsection 
(a) by entering into contracts with one or more public or private 
entities, including nationally recognized organizations in the field of 
poison control and national media firms, for the development and 
implementation of a nationwide poison prevention and poison control 
center awareness campaign, which may include--
        ``(1) the development and distribution of poison prevention and 
    poison control center awareness materials;
        ``(2) television, radio, Internet, and newspaper public service 
    announcements; and
        ``(3) other activities to provide for public and professional 
    awareness and education.
    ``(c) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
        ``(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to 
    quantitatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide media campaign 
    carried out under this section; and
        ``(2) on an annual basis, prepare and submit to the appropriate 
    committees of Congress, an evaluation of the nationwide media 
    campaign.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, such sums as may be necessary 
for fiscal year 2009, and $800,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 
through 2014.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall be 
effective on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to 
contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2009.
SEC. 5. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.
    (a) In General.--Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300d-73) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.
    ``(a) Authorization of Program.--The Secretary shall award grants 
to poison control centers certified under subsection (c) (or granted a 
waiver under subsection (d)) and professional organizations in the 
field of poison control for the purposes of preventing, and providing 
treatment recommendations for, poisonings and complying with the 
operational requirements needed to sustain the certification of the 
center under subsection (c).
    ``(b) Additional Uses of Funds.--In addition to the purposes 
described in subsection (a), a poison center or professional 
organization awarded a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under 
such subsection may also use amounts received under such grant, 
contract, or cooperative agreement--
        ``(1) to establish and evaluate best practices in the United 
    States for poison prevention, poison control center outreach, and 
    emergency and preparedness programs;
        ``(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, and communicate 
    standard patient management guidelines for commonly encountered 
    toxic exposures;
        ``(3) to improve national toxic exposure surveillance by 
    enhancing cooperative activities between poison control centers in 
    the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and 
    Prevention;
        ``(4) to develop, support, and enhance technology and 
    capabilities of professional organizations in the field of poison 
    control to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and 
    related public health data;
        ``(5) to develop initiatives to foster the enhanced public 
    health utilization of national poison data collected by 
    organizations described in paragraph (4);
        ``(6) to support and expand the toxicologic expertise within 
    poison control centers; and
        ``(7) to improve the capacity of poison control centers to 
    answer high volumes of calls and respond during times of national 
    crisis or other public health emergencies.
    ``(c) Certification.--Except as provided in subsection (d), the 
Secretary may award a grant to a poison control center under subsection 
(a) only if--
        ``(1) the center has been certified by a professional 
    organization in the field of poison control, and the Secretary has 
    approved the organization as having in effect standards for 
    certification that reasonably provide for the protection of the 
    public health with respect to poisoning; or
        ``(2) the center has been certified by a State government, and 
    the Secretary has approved the State government as having in effect 
    standards for certification that reasonably provide for the 
    protection of the public health with respect to poisoning.
    ``(d) Waiver of Certification Requirements.--
        ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may grant a waiver of the 
    certification requirements of subsection (c) with respect to a 
    noncertified poison control center that applies for a grant under 
    this section if such center can reasonably demonstrate that the 
    center will obtain such a certification within a reasonable period 
    of time as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
        ``(2) Renewal.--The Secretary may renew a waiver under 
    paragraph (1).
        ``(3) Limitation.--In no case may the sum of the number of 
    years for a waiver under paragraph (1) and a renewal under 
    paragraph (2) exceed 5 years. The preceding sentence shall take 
    effect as of the date of the enactment of the Poison Center 
    Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008.
    ``(e) Supplement Not Supplant.--Amounts made available to a poison 
control center under this section shall be used to supplement and not 
supplant other Federal, State or local funds provided for such center.
    ``(f) Maintenance of Effort.--A poison control center, in utilizing 
the proceeds of a grant under this section, shall maintain the 
expenditures of the center for activities of the center at a level that 
is not less than the level of expenditures maintained by the center for 
the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the grant is 
received.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, $27,500,000 for fiscal year 
2009, and $28,600,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014. The 
Secretary may utilize not to exceed 8 percent of the amount 
appropriated under this preceding sentence in each fiscal year for 
coordination, dissemination, technical assistance, program evaluation, 
data activities, and other program administration functions that do not 
include grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements under subsections 
(a) and (b), which are determined by the Secretary to be appropriate 
for carrying out the program under this section.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall be 
effective as of the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply 
to grants made on or after January 1, 2009.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.

Summary: Poison Center Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide coordination and assistance for the maintenance of the nationwide toll-free phone number to access poison control centers.

Requires the Secretary to carry out and expand upon a national media campaign to educate the public and health care providers about poison prevention and the availability of poison control center resources in local communities. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts with nationally recognized organizations in the field of poison control and national media firms for the development and implementation of a nationwide poison prevention and poison control center awareness campaign.

Expands the poison control center grant program to allow the Secretary to award grants for poison control centers to comply with the operational requirements needed to sustain certification. Adds as the purposes for which such grants may be used: (1) to establish and evaluate best practices in the United States for poison prevention, poison control center outreach, and emergency and preparedness programs; (2) to implement standard patient management guidelines for commonly encountered toxic exposures; (3) to develop, support, and enhance technology and capabilities of professional organizations in the field of poison control to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and related public health data; and (4) to develop initiatives to foster the enhanced public health utilization of national poison data. Eliminates matching requirements for such grants.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2009-FY2014.