Title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish Alzheimer's Disease research, education, and clinical centers.
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to designate and operate centers of Alzheimer's disease research, education, and clinical activities in at least three VA health care facilities.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5191 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5191

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to establish Alzheimer's Disease research, education, 
                         and clinical centers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 7, 2018

  Mr. Coffman (for himself, Mr. Sessions, and Mrs. McMorris Rodgers) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to establish Alzheimer's Disease research, education, 
                         and clinical centers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH, EDUCATION, 
              AND CLINICAL CENTERS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 7330B the following new section:
``Sec. 7330C. Alzheimer's Disease research, education, and clinical 
              centers.
    ``(a) Establishment of Centers.--(1) The Secretary, upon the 
recommendation of the Under Secretary for Health, shall designate not 
less than three Department health-care facilities as the locations for 
centers of Alzheimer's Disease research, education, and clinical 
activities.
    ``(2) Subject to the availability of appropriations for such 
purpose, the Secretary shall establish and operate centers of 
Alzheimer's Disease research, education, and clinical activities 
centers at the locations designated pursuant to paragraph (1).
    ``(b) Requirements for Designation.--(1) The Secretary may not 
designate a Department health-care facility as a location for a center 
under subsection (a) unless the peer review panel established under 
subsection (c) has determined under that subsection that the proposal 
submitted by such facility as a location for a new center under 
subsection (a) is among those proposals that meet the highest 
competitive standards of scientific and clinical merit.
    ``(2) The Secretary may not designate a Department health-care 
facility as a location for a center under subsection (a) unless the 
Secretary (upon the recommendation of the Under Secretary for Health) 
determines that the facility has (or may reasonably be anticipated to 
develop) each of the following:
            ``(A) An arrangement with an accredited medical school that 
        provides education and training in neurology and with which the 
        Department health-care facility is affiliated under which 
        residents receive education and training in innovative 
        diagnosis and treatment of chronic neurodegenerative diseases 
        and forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease.
            ``(B) The ability to attract the participation of 
        scientists who are capable of ingenuity and creativity in 
        health-care research efforts.
            ``(C) An advisory committee composed of veterans and 
        appropriate health-care and research representatives of the 
        Department health-care facility and of the affiliated school or 
        schools to advise the directors of such facility and such 
        center on policy matters pertaining to the activities of the 
        center during the period of the operation of such center.
            ``(D) The capability to conduct effectively evaluations of 
        the activities of such center.
            ``(E) The capability to coordinate (as part of an 
        integrated national system) education, clinical, and research 
        activities within all facilities with such centers.
            ``(F) The capability to jointly develop a consortium of 
        providers with interest in treating Alzheimer's Disease and 
        other forms of dementia, at facilities without centers 
        established under subsection (a) in order to ensure better 
        access to state-of-the-art diagnosis, care, and education for 
        neurodegenerative disorders throughout the health-care system 
        of the Department.
            ``(G) The capability to develop a national repository in 
        the health-care system of the Department for the collection of 
        data on health services delivered to veterans seeking care for 
        neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease and 
        dementia.
            ``(H) A scientific specialization in a field of research 
        likely to be transformative to the development of a cure or 
        treatment for Alzheimer's Disease, including the capability to 
        study the connection between Alzheimer's Disease and Down 
        Syndrome.
    ``(c) Peer Review Panel.--(1) The Under Secretary for Health shall 
establish a panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of 
proposals that are submitted to the Secretary for the establishment of 
centers under this section.
    ``(2)(A) The membership of the panel shall consist of experts in 
neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease and forms of 
dementia. At least one member of the panel shall include an expert on 
the connection between Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease.
    ``(B) Members of the panel shall serve for a period of no longer 
than two years, except as specified in subparagraph (C).
    ``(C) Of the members first appointed to the panel, one-half shall 
be appointed for a period of three years and one-half shall be 
appointed for a period of two years, as designated by the Under 
Secretary at the time of appointment.
    ``(3) The panel shall review each proposal submitted to the panel 
by the Under Secretary and shall submit its views on the relative 
scientific and clinical merit of each such proposal to the Under 
Secretary.
    ``(4) The panel shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act.
    ``(d) Priority of Funding.--Before providing funds for the 
operation of a center designated under this section at a Department 
health-care facility, the Secretary shall ensure that each Alzheimer's 
Disease center at a facility so designated is receiving adequate 
funding to enable that center to function effectively in the areas of 
Alzheimer's Disease research, education, and clinical activities.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary for the support of the 
research and education activities of the centers established pursuant 
to subsection (a). The Under Secretary for Health shall allocate to 
such centers from other funds appropriated generally for the Department 
medical services account and medical and prosthetics research account, 
as appropriate, such amounts as the Under Secretary for Health 
determines appropriate.
    ``(f) Award Competitions.--Activities of clinical and scientific 
investigation at each center established under subsection (a) shall be 
eligible to compete for the award of funding from funds appropriated 
for the Department medical and prosthetics research account. Such 
activities shall receive priority in the award of funding from such 
account insofar as funds are awarded to projects for research in 
Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
7330B the following new item:

``7330C. Alzheimer's Disease research, education, and clinical 
                            centers.''.
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