Title: Poison Center Network Enhancement Act of 2019
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Poison Center Network Enhancement Act of 2019This bill modifies and reauthorizes through FY2024 the national poison center network program. Specifically, the bill allows the use of other communication technologies (in addition to the national toll-free number) to access poison control centers and requires the program to include toxic exposure (in addition to poisoning) in nationwide media campaigns. Further, the bill modifies the waiver limitations for poison control center accreditation.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1199 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1199

To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend the poison 
                        center network program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 11, 2019

 Mrs. Murray (for herself and Mr. Burr) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend the poison 
                        center network program.

    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 ``Poison Center Network Enhancement 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.

    Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-71) 
is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by inserting before the period 
        the following: ``and other communication capabilities'';
            (2) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary--
            ``(1) shall provide coordination and assistance to poison 
        control centers for the establishment and maintenance of a 
        nationwide toll-free phone number, to be used to access such 
        centers; and
            ``(2) may provide coordination and assistance to poison 
        control centers and consult with professional organizations for 
        the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of other 
        communication technologies to be used to access such 
        centers.'';
            (3) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c);
            (4) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) Routing Contacts With Poison Control Centers.--Not later than 
18 months after the date of enactment of the Poison Center Network 
Enhancement Act of 2019, the Secretary shall coordinate with the 
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to the extent 
technically and economically feasible, to ensure that communications 
with the national toll-free number are routed to the appropriate poison 
control center based on the physical location of the contact rather 
than the area code of the contact device.''; and
            (5) in subsection (c), as so redesignated--
                    (A) by striking ``2015 through 2019'' and inserting 
                ``2020 through 2024''; and
                    (B) by striking ``maintenance of the nationwide 
                toll free phone number under subsection (a)'' and 
                inserting ``establishment, implementation, and 
                maintenance activities carried out under subsections 
                (a) and (b)''.

SEC. 3. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN.

    Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-72) 
is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``nationwide media 
        campaign to promote'' and inserting ``promoting'';
            (2) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by inserting ``and support outreach to'' after 
                ``educate'';
                    (B) by striking ``poison prevention'' and inserting 
                ``poisoning and toxic exposure prevention''; and
                    (C) by striking ``established under'' and inserting 
                ``and other available communication technologies 
                established, implemented, or maintained under'';
            (3) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``nationwide poison prevention'' and inserting 
                ``nationwide poisoning and toxic exposure prevention''; 
                and
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ``poison 
                prevention and poison control center'' and inserting 
                ``poisoning and toxic exposure prevention awareness 
                materials, applicable public health emergency 
                preparedness and response information, and poison 
                control center'' after ``distribution of'';
            (4) by striking subsection (c);
            (5) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (c); and
            (6) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``2015 through 2019'' and inserting ``2020 through 2024''.

SEC. 4. MAINTENANCE OF PROGRAM.

    Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-73) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``and toxic exposures'' 
        after ``poisonings'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``for poison'' and 
                        inserting ``for poisoning and toxic exposure''; 
                        and
                            (ii) by striking ``and preparedness'' and 
                        inserting ``preparedness and response'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) by striking ``United States and'' and 
                        inserting ``United States,''; and
                            (ii) by inserting before the semicolon the 
                        following: ``, and other government agencies as 
                        determined to be appropriate and nonduplicative 
                        by the Secretary''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (8), by striking ``calls'' and 
                inserting ``contacts'';
            (3) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (3) and 
        inserting the following:
            ``(3) Limitation.--In no case may the sum of the number of 
        years for a waiver under this subsection exceed 5 years. 
        Notwithstanding any previous waivers, in the case of a poison 
        control center whose accreditation is affected by a public 
        health emergency declared pursuant to section 319, the 
        Secretary may, as the circumstances of the emergency reasonably 
        require, provide a waiver under paragraph (1) or a renewal 
        under paragraph (2) for up to 2 years.'';
            (4) by striking subsection (f) and inserting the following:
    ``(f) Maintenance of Effort.--With respect to activities for which 
a grant is awarded under this section, the Secretary may require that 
poison control centers agree to maintain the expenditures of the center 
for such activities 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.'';
            (5) In subsection (g), by striking ``2015 through 2019'' 
        and inserting ``2020 through 2024''; and
            (6) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) Biennial Report to Congress.--Not later than 2 years after 
the date of enactment of the Poison Center Network Enhancement Act of 
2019, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a 
report concerning the operations of, and trends identified by, the 
Poison Control Network. Such report shall include--
            ``(1) descriptions of the activities carried out pursuant 
        to sections 1271, 1272, and 1273, and the alignment of such 
        activities with the purposes provided under subsection (a);
            ``(2) a description of trends in volume of contacts to 
        poison control centers;
            ``(3) a description of trends in poisonings and toxic 
        exposures reported to poison control centers, as applicable and 
        appropriate;
            ``(4) an assessment of the impact of the public awareness 
        campaign, including any geographic variations;
            ``(5) a description of barriers, if any, preventing poison 
        control centers from achieving the purposes and programs under 
        this section and sections 1271 and 1272;
            ``(6) a description of the standards for accreditation 
        described in subsection (c), including any variations in those 
        standards, and any efforts to create and maintain consistent 
        standards across organizations that accredit poison control 
        centers; and
            ``(7) the number of and reason for any waivers provided 
        under subsection (d).''.
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