Title: Department of Energy Veterans’ Health Initiative Act
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Department of Energy Veterans' Health Initiative Act
This bill directs the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish a research program in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing that is focused on the development of tools to (1) solve big data challenges associated with veterans' health care, and (2) support the Department of Veterans Affairs in identifying potential health risks and challenges.
DOE shall carry out a pilot program to develop tools for big data analytics in order to advance artificial intelligence technologies to solve complex big data challenges.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 143 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 143

To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collaborative research 
with the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare 
  services for veterans in the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2019

Ms. Ernst (for herself, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Portman, Mr. Gardner, Mr. King, 
 and Mr. Heinrich) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
     and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Department of Energy to conduct collaborative research 
with the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to improve healthcare 
  services for veterans in the United States, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy Veterans' 
Health Initiative Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Energy.
            (2) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory'' 
        has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the Energy 
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to advance Department of Energy 
expertise in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing in 
order to improve health outcomes for veteran populations by--
            (1) supporting basic research through the application of 
        artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, modeling 
        and simulation, machine learning, and large scale data 
        analytics to identify and solve outcome-defined challenges in 
        the health sciences;
            (2) maximizing the impact of the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs' health and genomics data housed at the National 
        Laboratories, as well as data from other sources, on science, 
        innovation, and health care outcomes through the use and 
        advancement of artificial intelligence and high-performance 
        computing capabilities of the Department of Energy;
            (3) promoting collaborative research through the 
        establishment of partnerships to improve data sharing between 
        Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher 
        education, and nonprofit institutions;
            (4) establishing multiple scientific computing user 
        facilities to house and provision available data to foster 
        transformational outcomes; and
            (5) driving the development of technology to improve 
        artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and 
        networking relevant to mission applications of the Department 
        of Energy, including modeling, simulation, machine learning, 
        and advanced data analytics.

SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY VETERANS HEALTH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish and carry out a 
research program in artificial intelligence and high-performance 
computing, focused on the development of tools to solve big data 
challenges associated with veteran's healthcare, and to support the 
efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs to identify potential 
health risks and challenges utilizing data on long-term healthcare, 
health risks, and genomic data collected from veteran populations. The 
Secretary shall carry out this program through a competitive, merit-
reviewed process, and consider applications from National Laboratories, 
institutions of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, 
and other appropriate entities.
    (b) Program Components.--In carrying out the program established 
under subsection (a), the Secretary may--
            (1) conduct basic research in modeling and simulation, 
        machine learning, large scale data analytics, and predictive 
        analysis in order to develop novel or optimized algorithms for 
        prediction of disease treatment and recovery;
            (2) develop methods to accommodate large data sets with 
        variable quality and scale, and to provide insight and models 
        for complex systems;
            (3) develop new approaches and maximize the use of 
        algorithms developed through artificial intelligence, machine 
        learning, data analytics, natural language processing, modeling 
        and simulation, and develop new algorithms suitable for high-
        performance computing systems and large biomedical data sets;
            (4) advance existing and construct new data enclaves 
        capable of securely storing data sets provided by the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and 
        other sources; and
            (5) promote collaboration and data sharing between National 
        Laboratories, research entities, and user facilities of the 
        Department by providing the necessary access and secure data 
        transfer capabilities.
    (c) Coordination.--In carrying out the program required under 
subsection (a), the Secretary is authorized to--
            (1) enter into memoranda of understanding in order to carry 
        out reimbursable agreements with the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs and other entities in order to maximize the 
        effectiveness of Department of Energy research and development 
        to improve veterans' healthcare;
            (2) consult with the Department of Veterans Affairs and 
        other Federal agencies as appropriate; and
            (3) ensure that data storage meets all privacy and security 
        requirements established by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
        and that access to data is provided in accordance with relevant 
        Department of Veterans Affairs data access policies, including 
        informed consent.
    (d) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 
of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate, 
a report detailing the effectiveness of--
            (1) the interagency coordination between each Federal 
        agency involved in the research program carried out under this 
        section;
            (2) collaborative research achievements of the program; and
            (3) potential opportunities to expand the technical 
        capabilities of the Department.
    (e) Funding.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall allocate up 
to $27,000,000 during the period of fiscal years 2019 through 2023 to 
carry out this section, subject to the availability of appropriations.

SEC. 5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DATA ANALYTICS, AND COMPUTATIONAL 
              RESEARCH PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out a pilot program to 
develop tools for big data analytics by utilizing data sets generated 
by Federal agencies, institutions of higher education, nonprofit 
research organizations, and industry in order to advance artificial 
intelligence technologies to solve complex, big data challenges. The 
Secretary shall carry out this program through a competitive, merit-
reviewed process, and consider applications from National Laboratories, 
institutions of higher education, multi-institutional collaborations, 
and other appropriate entities.
    (b) Program Components.--In carrying out the pilot program 
established under subsection (a), the Secretary may--
            (1) establish a cross-cutting research initiative to 
        prevent duplication and coordinate research efforts in 
        artificial intelligence and data analytics across the 
        Department;
            (2) conduct basic research in modeling and simulation, 
        artificial intelligence, machine learning, large scale data 
        analytics, natural language processing, and predictive analysis 
        in order to develop novel or optimized predictive algorithms 
        suitable for high-performance computing systems and large 
        biomedical data sets;
            (3) develop multivariate optimization models to accommodate 
        large data sets with variable quality and scale in order to 
        visualize complex systems;
            (4) establish multiple scientific computing user facilities 
        to serve as data enclaves capable of securely storing data sets 
        created by Federal agencies, institutions of higher education, 
        nonprofit organizations, or industry at National Laboratories; 
        and
            (5) promote collaboration and data sharing between National 
        Laboratories, research entities, and user facilities of the 
        Department by providing the necessary access and secure data 
        transfer capabilities.
    (c) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a report 
evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program under subsection (a), 
including basic research discoveries achieved in the course of the 
program and potential opportunities to expand the technical 
capabilities of the Department through the development of artificial 
intelligence and data analytics technologies.
    (d) Funding.--The Secretary of Energy shall allocate up to 
$26,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 and 2020 to carry out this 
section, subject to the availability of appropriations.
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