To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize medical simulation enhancement programs, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Enhancing Safety in Medicine 
Utilizing Leading Advanced Simulation Technologies to Improve Outcomes 
Now Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Simulation-based education and training in medicine, 
        nursing, allied health, podiatry, osteopathy, dentistry, and 
        emergency response teams can enhance procedural skills and 
        reinforce best practices by allowing students, experienced 
        clinicians, and health care professionals to practice 
        procedures in a realistic setting.
            (2) The enhanced clinical skill development provided by 
        simulation-based training benefits patients and health care 
        consumers in the form of improved health outcomes, patient 
        safety, and quality; reduced medical errors and deaths; and 
        reduced costs associated with providing patient care.
            (3) Many educational institutions and health care 
        providers, particularly those in urban and rural settings, have 
        difficulty acquiring medical simulation technology. Financial 
        assistance in the form of Federal grants would significantly 
        enhance the ability of these entities to deploy medical 
        simulation technology and incorporate such technology into 
        training protocols.
            (4) The creation of medical simulation centers of 
        excellence to provide guidance and leadership to educational 
        institutions and health care entities will facilitate the 
        deployment of medical simulation technologies and the 
        commercialization of cutting-edge medical simulation research.
            (5) A Federal medical simulation coordinating council would 
        promote better communication and collaboration between the 
        Federal entities with experience or interest in simulation-
        based education and medical simulation technology deployment.

SEC. 3. MEDICAL SIMULATION ENHANCEMENT.

    Part B of title IX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 299b 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 918. MEDICAL SIMULATION ENHANCEMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director shall conduct and support research, 
evaluations, initiatives, and demonstration projects, and provide 
grants or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements, to enhance 
the deployment of medical simulation technologies and the incorporation 
of such technologies and equipment into medical, nursing, allied 
health, podiatric, osteopathic, and dental education and training 
protocols.
    ``(b) Programs.--In carrying out subsection (a), the Director shall 
establish the following programs:
            ``(1) Medical simulation centers of excellence.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--The Director shall establish 
                medical simulation centers of excellence--
                            ``(i) to provide leadership and conduct 
                        research with respect to enhancing and 
                        expanding the utilization of medical simulation 
                        technologies and simulation-based skills 
                        training for physicians, nurses, allied health 
                        professionals, and qualified students; and
                            ``(ii) to improve the efficiency and 
                        effectiveness of medical simulation research 
                        and programs.
                    ``(B) Purpose.--Each medical simulation center of 
                excellence established under subsection (a) shall--
                            ``(i) provide leadership in a specific area 
                        of medical simulation technology or knowledge;
                            ``(ii) enhance and expand the knowledge 
                        base within the specific area of medical 
                        simulation technology or knowledge in line with 
                        the program requirements and the long-term 
                        interests of the medical simulation community; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) serve as a resource center to 
                        interested health professional schools and 
                        individuals who want to learn about medical 
                        simulation.
            ``(2) Medical simulation innovation.--The Director shall 
        promote innovation in medical simulation technologies and 
        encourage development and deployment of challenging and complex 
        medical simulation technologies and applications by--
                    ``(A) conducting and supporting research on the 
                development and deployment of complex or challenging 
                medical simulation and interdisciplinary simulation 
                technologies;
                    ``(B) identifying, in consultation with the 
                Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, 
                particularly challenging or complex medical simulation 
                technologies and applications; and
                    ``(C) developing, in consultation with the National 
                Library of Medicine, an electronic clearinghouse of 
                medical simulation technologies currently available and 
                those being developed.
            ``(3) Medical simulation technology acquisition.--
                    ``(A) Grants.--The Director shall award grants to 
                eligible entities for the purchase of medical 
                simulation technologies for use in the training of 
                physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and 
                qualified students.
                    ``(B) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `eligible entity' means a hospital, an academic medical 
                center, or a school of allied health, dentistry, 
                medicine, nursing, osteopathic medicine, or podiatric 
                medicine.
            ``(4) Medical and interdisciplinary simulation curricula.--
                    ``(A) Grants.--The Director shall award grants to 
                eligible entities to incorporate medical simulation and 
                interdisciplinary simulation technologies into 
                curricula and training of physicians, nurses, and 
                allied health professionals.
                    ``(B) Definition.--In this subsection, the term 
                `eligible entity' means an academic medical center or a 
                school of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, dentistry, 
                nursing, or allied health.
            ``(5) Grants to professional organizations.--
                    ``(A) Grants.--The Director shall award grants to 
                eligible entities to deploy medical simulation 
                technologies for the purpose of providing training to 
                health care providers.
                    ``(B) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `eligible entity' means an academic medical center, a 
                professional organization that provides accreditation 
                or quality assurance to health care professionals, a 
                health profession licensing board, or an agency 
                studying utilization of simulation-based methods in 
                credentialing and accreditation in health care.
            ``(6) Federal medical simulation coordinating council.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--There is established within 
                the Department of Health and Human Services the Federal 
                Medical Simulation Coordinating Council (in this 
                paragraph referred to as the `Coordinating Council').
                    ``(B) Purpose.--The Coordinating Council shall 
                coordinate the Federal Government's activities 
                regarding the research on and development, deployment, 
                and utilization of medical simulation technologies.
                    ``(C) Voting members.--The voting members of the 
                Coordinating Council shall consist of representatives 
                of Federal agencies with responsibility for improving 
                health care delivery to patients, as follows:
                            ``(i) A majority of the voting members of 
                        the Coordinating Council shall be 
                        representatives of the Department of Health and 
                        Human Services. Such majority shall consist of 
                        the Director and such individuals as may be 
                        appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human 
                        Services. At a minimum, the Secretary shall 
                        appoint representatives of--
                                    ``(I) the Agency for Healthcare 
                                Research and Quality;
                                    ``(II) the National Institutes of 
                                Health;
                                    ``(III) the Health Resources and 
                                Services Administration;
                                    ``(IV) the Centers for Medicare & 
                                Medicaid Services; and
                                    ``(V) the Food and Drug 
                                Administration.
                            ``(ii) The remainder of the voting members 
                        of the Coordinating Council shall consist of--
                                    ``(I) representatives of the 
                                Department of Defense, appointed by the 
                                Secretary of Defense; and
                                    ``(II) representatives of the 
                                Department of Veterans Affairs, 
                                appointed by the Secretary of Veterans 
                                Affairs.
                    ``(D) Liaisons.--In addition to the voting members 
                appointed pursuant to subparagraph (C), the membership 
                of the Coordinating Council shall include 2 
                representatives of the advisory panel established under 
                subsection (c) who--
                            ``(i) shall be selected by the Secretary of 
                        Health and Human Services, the Secretary of 
                        Defense, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
                        acting jointly;
                            ``(ii) shall be nonvoting members; and
                            ``(iii) shall serve as liaisons between the 
                        advisory panel and the Coordinating Council.
                    ``(E) Leadership.--The Director shall serve as the 
                Chair of the Coordinating Council and shall be 
                responsible for the leadership and oversight of the 
                activities of the Coordinating Council.
                    ``(F) Consultation.--In carrying out the purpose 
                described in subparagraph (B), the Coordinating Council 
                shall consult with outside organizations on ways to 
                improve medical simulation policy and access.
                    ``(G) Meetings.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The Coordinating Council 
                        shall meet regularly and no less than 2 times 
                        each year.
                            ``(ii) Notice.--Notice of any upcoming 
                        meeting of the Coordinating Council shall be 
                        published in the Federal Register.
                            ``(iii) Public access.--Any meeting of the 
                        Coordinating Council shall be open to the 
                        public.
    ``(c) Advisory Panel.--The Director shall establish an advisory 
panel to make recommendations on how to structure the programs under 
subsection (b). The members of such advisory panel shall consist of a 
total of at least 10 representatives of the medical simulation 
community, including representatives of--
            ``(1) academic medical centers or schools of medicine, 
        osteopathy, podiatry, dentistry, nursing, or allied health;
            ``(2) health care professionals who are actively involved 
        in medical simulation centers; and
            ``(3) at least 2 multidisciplinary associations which are 
        recognized as having a primary focus on medical simulation.
    ``(d) Definitions.--
            ``(1) Medical simulation.--The term `medical simulation' 
        means the use of a device, such as a mannequin, a task trainer, 
        virtual reality, or a standardized patient, to emulate a real 
        device, patient, or patient care situation or environment to 
        teach therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, processes, medical 
        concepts, and decisionmaking to a health care professional.
            ``(2) Qualified student.--The term `qualified student' 
        means a student enrolled full-time or part-time in--
                    ``(A) a school of allied health, a school of 
                dentistry, a school of medicine, a school of 
                osteopathic medicine, or a school of podiatric medicine 
                (as such terms are defined in section 799B); or
                    ``(B) a school of nursing (as such term is defined 
                in section 801).
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section, 
there are authorized to be appropriated--
            ``(1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; and
            ``(2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2009 
        through 2012.''.

Summary: Enhancing Safety in Medicine Utilizing Leading Advanced Simulation Technologies to Improve Outcomes Now Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to conduct and support research, evaluations, initiatives, and demonstration projects, and provide grants or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements, to enhance the deployment of medical simulation technologies and the incorporation of such technologies and equipment into medical, nursing, allied health, podiatric, osteopathic, and dental education and training protocols.

Requires the Director to: (1) establish medical simulation centers of excellence; (2) promote innovation by conducting and supporting research on complex or challenging medical simulation and interdisciplinary simulation technologies and developing an electronic clearinghouse of such technologies; and (3) award grants for purchasing, incorporating, and deploying such technologies for training of physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and qualified students.

Establishes within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the Federal Medical Simulation Coordinating Council. Requires the Director to establish an advisory panel to make recommendations on how to structure programs established by this Act.