zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Cody Miller Initiative for Safer Prescriptions Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promulgate regulations regarding the authorship, content, format, and dissemination requirements for patient medication information (PMI) for prescription drugs.

Requires such regulations to require the PMI for such a drug: (1) to be scientifically accurate and to be based on the approved professional labeling and authoritative, peer-reviewed literature; and (2) to include plain language that is not promotional in tone or content. Requires that such language include: (1) the established name of the drug; (2) drug uses and clinical benefits; (3) general directions for proper use; (4) contraindications, common side effects, and the most serious risks of the drug; (5) measures patients may take to reduce the side effects and risks; (6) when a patient should contact his or her health care professional; (7) instructions not to share medications; (8) any key storage requirements; (9) recommendations relating to proper disposal of any unused portion of the drug; and (10) known clinically important interactions with other drugs and substances.

Requires such regulations to: (1) include standards related to performing timely updates of drug information, ensuring that common information is applied consistently and simultaneously across similar drug products and for drugs within classes of medications, and developing a process to assess the quality and effectiveness of PMI in promoting patient understanding and safe and effective use; and (2) provide for the development of a publicly accessible electronic repository for all PMI.

Requires the Secretary to publish on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website a link to the Daily Med website.

Date: 2013-04-17
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Pediatric Subspecialty and Mental Health Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Reauthorizes through FY2018 a pediatric specialty educational loan repayment program for health professionals providing pediatric medical subspecialty, pediatric surgical specialty, or child and adolescent mental and behavioral health care in an area with a shortage of the specified pediatric subspecialty that has a sufficient pediatric population to support the subspecialty.

Date: 2013-05-06
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act, with respect to asthma-related grants for child health services, to give an additional preference to a state that allows self-administration of asthma and anaphylaxis medication and makes a certification concerning the adequacy of the state's civil liability protection law to protect trained school personnel who may administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction.

Requires elementary and secondary schools in such a state to: (1) permit trained personnel to administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having such a reaction, (2) maintain a supply of epinephrine in a secure location that is easily accessible to trained personnel for such treatment, and (3) have in place a plan for having on the school premises during operating hours one or more designated personnel trained in administration of epinephrine.

Date: 2013-05-22
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 to make the J-1 visa waiver (Conrad state 30/medical services in underserved areas) program permanent.

Excludes from numerical immigration limitations alien physicians who have completed national interest waiver requirements by working in a health care shortage area (including alien physicians who completed such service before the date of enactment of this Act and any spouses or children of such alien physicians).

Sets forth specified employment protections and contract requirements for alien physicians working in underserved areas.

Increases the number of alien physicians that a state may be allocated from 30 to 35 per fiscal year in specified circumstances. Provides for additional increases or decreases based upon demand.

Provides up to three visa waivers per fiscal year per state for physicians in academic medical centers.

Permits dual intent for an alien coming to the United States to receive graduate medical education or training, or to take examinations required for graduate medical education or training.

Exempts H-1B nonimmigrant aliens seeking to enter the United States to pursue graduate medical education or training from specified entry limitations.

Date: 2013-06-25
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Immigration
Medicare Respiratory Therapist Access Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare coverage of pulmonary self-management education and training services furnished by a qualified respiratory therapist in a physician practice to patients with chronic lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], including emphysema and bronchitis, as well as asthma, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis, and cystic fibrosis).

Date: 2013-07-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Medicare Hospice Care Access Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to recognize attending physician assistants as attending physicians to serve hospice patients.

Date: 2013-07-30
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Medicare Patient Access to Hospice Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to recognize attending physician assistants as attending physicians to serve hospice patients.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to public and nonprofit private health care providers to expand training and support services for families and caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Healthcare for our Heroes Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish scholarships to new participants in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Professionals Educational Assistance Scholarship Program until December 31, 2016 (currently, December 31, 2014).

Date: 2013-08-02
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Rural Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act - Amends appropriations authorities for veterans' benefits to provide advanced appropriations for information technology relating to medical services, support, compliance, and facilities of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to include, as a component of VHA health-care personnel education and training programs, education and training of marriage and family therapists as well as licensed professional mental health counselors.

Amends the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 to require the Secretary, through VA medical centers, to provide mental health services, including outpatient care, to the immediate families of certain veterans returning from Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Requires the Secretary to report to Congress regarding telemedicine services (the use by a health care provider of telecommunications to assist in the diagnosis or treatment of a patient's medical condition) for veterans, including updates on VA teleconsultation and telemedicine initiatives, training, and partnerships with primary care providers.

Date: 2013-11-14
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans Access to Care Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to designate medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) automatically as health professional shortage areas.

 Prohibits an individual from participating in both the VA's Health Professionals Education Assistance Program and the National Health Service Corps scholarship or loan repayment programs.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in carrying out the National Health Service Corps Program, to consult with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs regarding health professional shortage areas that are VA medical facilities.

Date: 2013-11-20
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Provides that for purposes of medical professional liability insurance or civil and criminal malpractice liability determinations, a physician or athletic trainer (covered sports medicine professional) who is authorized to practice medicine in a state (primary state) and who provides medical services to an athlete or athletic team in a state where such professional is not authorized to practice (secondary state) shall be deemed to have provided such medical services in the primary state, provided that prior to providing the covered medical services such professional has disclosed the nature and extent of such services to the entity that provides such professional with medical professional liability insurance in the primary state.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Creating Access to Residency Education Act of 2014 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make grants to or enter contracts with eligible entities to support the creation of new medical residency training programs or slots within existing programs in states in which there is a low ratio of medical residents relative to the general population.

Requires an eligible entity to be: (1) located in a state with fewer than 25 medical residents per 100,000 population, and (2) a public or nonprofit teaching hospital or an accredited graduate medical education (GME) training program. Allows such entity to enter into a partnership with a state, local government, community health center, local health department, hospital, or other appropriate organization.

Requires a grant or contract agreement: (1) in the case of a new or existing medical residency training program in the field of primary care, to require the recipient to provide one-third of the cost of the slots to be funded and to require the Administrator to provide the remaining two-thirds of such cost; and (2) in the case of such a training program in any other field, to require the recipient to provide one-half of the cost of the slots to be funded and the Administrator to provide the remaining half.

Directs the Administrator to establish application processes for eligible entities to receive funding, including multiyear commitments to ensure the continued funding of GME slots for residents in training.

Date: 2014-03-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Education and Training for Health Act of 2014 or the EAT for Health Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue guidelines to federal agencies for developing procedures and requirements to ensure that every primary care health professional employed full-time for such agencies have at least six credits of continuing medical education courses relating to nutrition. Requires these to include at least courses on the role of nutrition in the prevention, management, and, as possible, reversal of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Requires each agency employing such primary care professionals to report to Congress annually on the extent to which it has adopted and enforced the guidelines issued under this Act with respect to those employed during any portion of the previous year.

Date: 2014-04-02
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Expanding Nutrition's Role in Curricula and Healthcare Act or the ENRICH Act - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a program of three-year competitive grants to accredited medical schools for the development or expansion of an integrated nutrition curriculum.

Describes such a curriculum as one that: (1) is based on best possible evidence to improve communication and provider preparedness in the prevention, management, and, as possible, reversal of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer; and (2) addresses such topics as nutrition across the life cycle of members of at-risk populations and food insecurity and malnutrition among such individuals.

Date: 2014-04-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Underserved Veterans Access to Health Care Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish medical residency programs, or ensure a sufficient number of residency positions in medical residency programs, at VA medical facilities that the Secretary determines: (1) are experiencing a shortage of physicians, and (2) are located in communities that are designated as a health professional shortage area.

Requires the Secretary to determine the specialty of health care professionals that a location is experiencing a shortage of and allocate residency positions based on such determination.

Directs the Secretary, during the five-year period beginning on the enactment of this Act, to establish not fewer than 2,000 graduate medical education residency positions, giving priority to VA medical facilities that: (1) do not have medical residency programs, and (2) are located in communities that have a high concentration of veterans.

Date: 2014-06-23
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Restoring the Doctors of Our Country through Scholarships Act of 2014 or RDOCS Act of 2014 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration to make matching grants under which states provide RDOCS scholarships, paying all costs of a student's undergraduate medical education, to provide for the increased availability of primary health care services in health professional shortage areas.

Requires the scholarship recipient to agree to residency training in a primary care specialty and a five-year post-graduate period of service in a health professional shortage area.

Requires that preference be given in awarding scholarships to applicants enrolled in: (1) an accelerated track family-medicine program (an integrated course of study allowing completion of undergraduate medical education and graduate medical education in six years), or (2) a program that includes clinical training in rural or underserved urban communities.

Date: 2014-07-28
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Restoring the Doctors of Our Country through Scholarships Veterans Affairs Act of 2014 or the RDOCS-VA Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Professionals Educational Assistance Program, to carry out a scholarship program to provide for the increased availability of physicians who provide primary health care services at VA medical facilities, which shall be known as the Restoring the Doctors of Our Country through Scholarships-Veterans Affairs (RDOCS-VA) program.

Directs the Secretary, under such program, to award not less than 400 scholarships covering all tuition and costs for an undergraduate medical education for a period of study not exceeding 48 consecutive months, and a cost-of-living stipend, to selected individuals who agree to:

 be admitted into and maintain enrollment in a participating undergraduate medical program in the scholar's state of residence, maintain a minimum level of academic standing, complete an accredited residency training program in a primary care specialty, become licensed to practice medicine in the scholar's state of residence, receive and maintain board certification in a primary care specialty, and complete a five-year post-graduate period of employment by the VA performing primary care services. Directs the Secretary to give preference to applicants who: (1) are enrolled in an accelerated track family-medicine program, or (2) elect to complete the five-year period of employment at a VA facility that the Secretary designates as having an urgent need for primary care physicians.

Sets forth provisions regarding such scholar's liability for breach of agreement.

Date: 2014-07-28
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Making the Education of Nurses Dependable for Schools Act or the MEND Act - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for any reimbursements to providers under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act for the costs of nursing and allied health education activities, to apply the regulation establishing the payment methodology for such reimbursements by treating a provider as meeting the requirements:

 for consideration as operating an approved nursing or allied health education program if the provider or a wholly owned subsidiary educational institution singly or collectively meets all such requirements; and for payment for certain nonprovider-operated programs at wholly owned subsidiary educational institutions if the provider meets all such requirements except that the transfer of a nursing or allied health education program to that wholly owned subsidiary educational institution to meet accreditation standards occurred after October 1, 2003. Defines "wholly owned subsidiary educational institution" as one that: (1) is organized as a legal entity distinct from the provider, (2) has the provider as its sole owner or sole member, and (3) is organized in the same state in which the provider is organized or registered to do business.

Date: 2014-07-28
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Wounded Warrior Workforce Enhancement Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to award grants to eligible institutions to: (1) establish a master's or doctoral degree program in orthotics and prosthetics, or (2) expand upon an existing master's degree program in such area. Requires a grant priority for institutions in partnership with a medical center administered by the VA or a facility administered by the Department of Defense (DOD). Provides grant amounts of at least $1 million and up to $1.5 million. Defines as eligible institutions those either accredited by the National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education or demonstrating an ability to meet such accreditation requirements if receiving a grant.

Requires the Secretary to award a grant to an institution with orthotic and prosthetic research and education experience to: (1) establish the Center of Excellence in Orthotic and Prosthetic Education; and (2) improve orthotic and prosthetic outcomes for veterans, members of the Armed Forces, and civilians by conducting orthotic and prosthetic-based research.

Date: 2014-09-10
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Building a Health Care Workforce for the Future Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award matching grants to enable states to implement scholarship programs to ensure an adequate supply of health professionals.

Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to assist medical schools in developing and strengthening primary care mentorship programs and cultivating leaders in primary care among its students.

Requires the Secretary to award grants to medical and other health professions schools to promote priority competencies that are selected annually by the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry in order to foster curricular innovations to improve the education and training of health care providers.

Directs the Institute of Medicine to study the documentation requirements for cognitive services (evaluation and management services) required under Medicare and Medicaid and through private health insurers.

Date: 2014-09-11
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Primary Care Physician Reentry Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a demonstration program to facilitate physician reentry into primary care clinical practice in exchange for the physician providing primary care at an eligible health center for at least two years.

Requires the Secretary to award one grant to an entity in each of the 10 administrative regions of HHS to carry out physician reentry projects.

Directs grantees to assist reentering physicians by providing training, paying credentialing and other necessary fees, paying salaries, and providing loan repayment and other financial assistance.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) assess the need for additional primary care physicians, (2) develop a directory of programs that help physicians reenter clinical practice, (3) disseminate evaluation tools to measure the core competencies of physicians reentering clinical practice, and (4) assist regulatory and credentialing authorities to structure requirements for reentering physicians that ensure patient safety while addressing the burdens on those physicians.

 Limits civil liability for physicians participating in a reentry project.

Date: 2014-09-16
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Assuring Quality Care for Veterans Act - Authorizes (current law requires) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to reimburse any full-time board-certified health professional (under current law, physician or dentist) appointed to the VA for continuing professional education expenses incurred, up to $1,600 per year (under current law, $1,000).

Directs that the expenses incurred be expenses required to maintain licensure.

Date: 2014-09-17
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Health Emergencies Lack Provider Specialists Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to make eligible for the National Health Service Corps loan repayment and scholarship programs specialists needed to serve medically underserved areas or populations that have needs for particular specialists related to a public health emergency declaration based upon environmental health hazard-related health concerns.

Date: 2013-02-28
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income payments under the federal veterinary medicine loan repayment program or any other state loan repayment or forgiveness program that is intended to provide for increased access to veterinary services in such state.

Date: 2013-03-13
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Taxation
Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to distribution of additional resident positions as they affect calculation of payments for direct graduate medical education (DGME) costs.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), for each of FY2015-FY2019 (and each succeeding fiscal year if additional residency positions are available to distribute), to increase the otherwise applicable resident limit for each qualifying hospital.

Requires the aggregate number of increases in the otherwise applicable resident limit to be 3,000 in each of FY2015-FY2019, of which 1,500 in each such fiscal year shall be used for full-time equivalent residents training in a shortage specialty residency program.

Specifies the process for distributing positions.

Declares that, for discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2015, the indirect teaching adjustment factor, with respect to additional payments for subsection (d) hospitals with indirect costs of medical education (IME), insofar as those additional payments are attributable to resident positions distributed to a hospital according to such process, shall be computed in a specified manner with respect to those resident positions.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.) Directs the National Health Care Workforce Commission to study the physician workforce.

Directs the Comptroller General to study strategies for increasing the diversity of the health profession workforce.

Date: 2013-03-14
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 to make the J-1 visa waiver (Conrad state 30/medical services in underserved areas) program permanent.

Excludes from numerical immigration limitations alien physicians who have completed national interest waiver requirements by working in a health care shortage area (including alien physicians who completed such service before the date of enactment of this Act and any spouses or children of such alien physicians).

Sets forth specified employment protections and contract requirements for alien physicians working in underserved areas.

Increases the number of alien physicians that a state may be allocated from 30 to 35 per fiscal year under specified circumstances. Provides for additional increases or decreases based upon demand.

Provides up to three visa waivers per fiscal year per state for physicians in academic medical centers.

Permits dual intent for an alien coming to the United States to receive graduate medical education or training, or to take examinations required for graduate medical education or training.

Exempts H-1B nonimmigrant aliens seeking to enter the United States to pursue graduate medical education or training from specified entry limitations.

Date: 2013-03-19
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Immigration
Extends through 2019 (under current law, 2014) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health professionals educational assistance program.

Repeals the current $60,000 per-individual limit on education debt reduction payments made by the VA with respect to certain employees providing direct-patient care services or services incident thereto.

Date: 2013-04-25
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Access to Quality Diabetes Education Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to recognize state-licensed or -registered certified diabetes educators or state-licensed or -registered health care professionals who specialize in teaching individuals with diabetes to develop the necessary skills and knowledge to manage the individual's diabetic condition and are certified as a diabetes educator by a recognized certifying body.

Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the barriers that exist for Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes in accessing diabetes self-management training services under the Medicare program.

Requires the Director of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a series of recommendations on effective outreach methods to educate primary care physicians and other health care providers as well as the public about the benefits of diabetes self-management training.

Date: 2013-05-14
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterans to Paramedics Transition Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise the grant program to improve emergency medical services in rural areas to include as a permissible use of grant funds the provision to military veterans of required coursework and training to enable them to satisfy emergency medical services personnel certification requirements. Requires such coursework and training to take into account, and not be duplicative of, previous medical coursework and training received by such veterans in the Armed Forces.

Date: 2013-05-23
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterans Access to Care Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to designate medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) automatically as health professional shortage areas.

 Prohibits an individual from participating in both the VA's Health Professionals Education Assistance Program and the National Health Service Corps scholarship or loan repayment programs.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in carrying out the National Health Service Corps Program, to consult with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs regarding health professional shortage areas that are VA medical facilities.

Date: 2013-05-23
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Building a Health Care Workforce for the Future Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award matching grants to enable states to implement scholarship programs to ensure an adequate supply of health professionals.

Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to assist medical schools in developing and strengthening primary care mentorship programs and cultivating leaders in primary care among its students.

Requires the Secretary to award grants to medical and other health professions schools to promote priority competencies that are selected annually by the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry, in order to foster curricular innovations to improve the education and training of health care providers.

Directs the Institute of Medicine to study the documentation requirements for cognitive services (evaluation and management services) required under Medicare and Medicaid and through private health insurers.

Date: 2013-06-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Rural Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act - Amends appropriations authorities for veterans' benefits to provide advanced appropriations for information technology relating to medical services, support, compliance, and facilities of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to include, as a component of VHA health-care personnel education and training programs, education and training of marriage and family therapists as well as licensed professional mental health counselors.

Amends the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 to require the Secretary, through VA medical centers, to provide mental health services, including outpatient care, to the immediate families of certain veterans returning from Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Requires the Secretary to report to Congress regarding telemedicine services (the use by a health care provider of telecommunications to assist in the diagnosis or treatment of a patient's medical condition) for veterans, including updates on VA teleconsultation and telemedicine initiatives, training, and partnerships with primary care providers.

Date: 2013-06-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
National Health Service Corps Improvement Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise the definition of "primary health services" for purposes of the National Health Service Corps to include optometry health services.

Includes optometrists within: (1) the fellowship program for the delivery of primary health services in health professional shortage areas, (2) the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, and (3) the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
National Nurse Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to designate the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health within the Office of the Surgeon General.

Includes among the duties of such position providing leadership and coordination of Public Health Service nursing professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and other agencies of the Public Health Service, conducting outreach and education, and providing guidance and leadership for activities that will increase public safety and emergency preparedness.

Requires the National Nurse for Public Health to: (1) participate in identification of national health priorities, (2) encourage volunteerism of nurses and strengthen the relationship between government agencies and health-related national organizations, and (3) promote the dissemination of evidence-based practice in educating the public on health promotion and disease prevention activities.

Date: 2013-08-01
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act, with respect to asthma-related grants for child health services, to give an additional preference to a state that allows self-administration of asthma and anaphylaxis medication and makes a certification concerning the adequacy of the state's civil liability protection law to protect trained school personnel who may administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction.

Requires elementary and secondary schools in such a state to: (1) permit trained personnel to administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having such a reaction, (2) maintain a supply of epinephrine in a secure location that is easily accessible to trained personnel for such treatment, and (3) have in place a plan for having on the school premises during operating hours one or more designated personnel trained in administration of epinephrine.

Date: 2013-09-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend and reauthorize appropriations through FY2018 for payments to children's hospitals associated with operating approved graduate medical residency training programs.

Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) make available up to 25 percent of the total amounts in excess of specified appropriations for payments to certain hospitals with a Medicare payment agreement that are excluded from the Medicare inpatient hospital prospective payment system and whose inpatients are predominantly under 18 years of age; and (2) establish a quality bonus system for distribution of excess payments to such hospitals, which may include a focus on quality measurement and improvement, interpersonal and communications skills, delivering patient-centered care, and practicing in integrated health systems.

Date: 2013-09-27
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Teaching Health Center Reauthorization Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to appropriate funds for FY2016-FY2020 for the program of payments to teaching health centers that operate graduate medical education programs. Allows funds that were unexpended at the end of a fiscal year to be used in subsequent fiscal years.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) annually report a compilation of the data provided to the Secretary concerning residency training, and (2) establish a minimum per resident per year payment amount for all approved teaching health center graduate medical education positions under the program that is not less than the amount as of January 1, 2013, and ensure that not less than that amount is provided to all such programs for all approved positions.

Authorizes appropriations for FY2013-FY2020 for grants to teaching centers for the establishment of new accredited or expanded primary care residency programs.

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Occupational Therapy in Mental Health Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to include occupational therapists within the definition of "behavioral and mental health professionals" for purposes of the National Health Service Corps.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a continuing medical education program for medical professionals with the goal of: (1) increasing knowledge and recognition of medical conditions common to veterans and family members of veterans, and (2) improving outreach to veterans and family members.

Requires the program to include education on: (1) dealing with patients who are veterans or family members; (2) identifying and treating common mental and physical conditions of veterans and family members; (3) programs and benefits available to veterans and family members through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Labor, and such other federal agencies and non-federal organizations as the Secretary considers appropriate; and (4) the VA health care system.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out such program for five years on a VA website at no cost to participating medical professionals, and (2) ensure that the program is accredited in as many states as practicable.

Date: 2013-12-19
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the 96-hour physician certification requirement for inpatient critical access hospital services under which a physician must certify that a patient may reasonably be expected to be discharged or transferred to a hospital within 96 hours after admission to the critical access hospital.

Date: 2014-02-24
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Provides that for purposes of medical professional liability insurance or civil and criminal malpractice liability determinations, a physician or athletic trainer (covered sports medicine professional) who is authorized to practice medicine in a state (primary state) and who provides medical services to an athlete or athletic team in a state where such professional is not authorized to practice (secondary state) shall be deemed to have provided such medical services in the primary state, provided that prior to providing the covered medical services such professional has disclosed the nature and extent of such services to the entity that provides such professional with medical professional liability insurance in the primary state.

Date: 2014-04-08
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Veterans Affairs Health Workforce Enhancement Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish medical residency programs, or ensure a sufficient number of residency positions in medical residency programs, at any VA medical facility that the Secretary determines is experiencing a shortage of physicians.

Requires the Secretary to determine the specialty of health care professionals that each such facility is experiencing a shortage of and allocate residency programs and positions based on such determination.

Directs the Secretary, during the five-year period beginning on the enactment of this Act, to increase the number of graduate medical education residency positions at VA medical facilities by not less than 2,000 positions, giving priority to medical facilities that: (1) do not have a medical residency program, and (2) are located in a community in which there is a high need for health care for veterans.

Date: 2014-07-22
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Community-Based Medical Education Act of 2014 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend through FY2019 at increased levels the program of payments to teaching health centers that operate graduate medical education (GME) programs.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) conduct a comprehensive evaluation of such program; and (2) establish a process by which qualified teaching health centers that have received payments under such Act prior to the date on which the primary care teaching centers program is established by this Act under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act may become eligible to participate in such primary care teaching program.

 Conditions the award of teaching health centers grants on the basis of demonstrated financial need. Reduces from $500,000 to $250,000 the maximum amount of such a grant. Authorizes appropriations for the grant program through FY2018.

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary to establish a program of payments to primary care teaching centers for up to 50 new full-time equivalent resident training positions per center at up to 300 centers per year. Sets the minimum per resident payment for 2014 at $150,000, increased each subsequent year by the percentage increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers (United States city average).

Directs the Secretary to establish and implement procedures under which, beginning in FY2018, the amount of payments that a hospital would otherwise receive for indirect medical education (IME) costs for discharges during a fiscal year is adjusted based on the reporting of measures and the hospital's performance on measures of population health priorities specified by the Secretary.

Requires the Secretary to specify measures of population health priorities, including measures relating to: (1) the extent of training provided in shortage specialities, a variety of settings and systems, the coordination of patient care across settings, interprofessional and multidisciplinary care teams, methods for identifying system errors and implementing system solutions, and the use of health information technology; and (2) the number of graduates practicing in shortage specialties five years after graduation, including in shortage specialties in health professional shortage areas

Requires measures of patient care specified by the Secretary to be: (1) adopted or endorsed by an accrediting organization, and (2) consensus-based. Allows them to include any submitted by teaching hospitals and medical schools.

Directs the Secretary to report to Congress and the National Health Care Workforce Commission on the GME payments hospitals and primary health training programs receive under Medicare.

Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to reauthorize the National Health Care Workforce Commission through FY2019.

Amends SSA title XVIII to revise the formula for the indirect teaching adjustment factor to reduce Medicare IME payments on or after October 1, 2016.

Date: 2014-07-31
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Physician Ambassadors Helping Veterans Act - Requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use the Secretary's authority to employ certain personnel without regard to civil service or classification laws, rules, or regulations to employ physicians on a without compensation basis in any practice area or specialty for which: (1) the average waiting time for veterans seeking an appointment with a physician exceeds the VA's waiting time goals, or (2) the VA facility where the physician will be employed has demonstrated staffing shortages.

Requires each VA medical facility to have a volunteer coordinator who: (1) seeks to establish relationships with medical associations serving the area, (2) recruits physicians for uncompensated employment at the facility, and (3) serves as the initial point of contact for physicians seeking uncompensated employment at the facility.

Conditions an uncompensated physician's receipt of a credential or privilege to practice medicine in a VA facility on the physician's commitment to serve at least 40 hours in the facility during the ensuing 12-month period.

Requires the Secretary to decide whether to grant an uncompensated physician's request for a credential or privilege to practice medicine in the VA facility within 60 days.

Requires the director of a VA medical facility to approve, and accept the uncompensated services of, any physician who has made the requisite service commitment and receives a credential or privilege to practice medicine in such facility.

Date: 2014-11-20
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
National Health Service Corps Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to include chiropractic services in primary health services for purposes of the National Health Service Corps.

Doctors of chiropractic are eligible for the fellowship program for the delivery of primary health services in health professional shortage areas, the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program, and the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program.

Date: 2015-01-27
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Making the Education of Nurses Dependable for Schools Act or the MEND Act 

Requires the Department of Health and Human Services, for any reimbursements to providers under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act for the costs of nursing and allied health education activities, to apply the regulation establishing the payment methodology for such reimbursements by treating a provider as meeting the requirements:

 for consideration as operating an approved nursing or allied health education program if the provider or a wholly owned subsidiary educational institution singly or collectively meets all such requirements; for payment for certain nonprovider-operated programs at wholly owned subsidiary educational institutions if the provider meets all such requirements except that the transfer of a nursing or allied health education program to that wholly owned subsidiary educational institution to meet accreditation standards occurred after October 1, 2003, and if the provider or its wholly owned subsidiary educational institution has been in continuous operation since October 1, 2003. Defines "wholly owned subsidiary educational institution" as one that: (1) is organized as a legal entity distinct from the provider, (2) has the provider as its sole owner or sole member, and (3) is organized in the same state in which the provider is organized or registered to do business.

Date: 2015-02-13
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Building a Health Care Workforce for the Future Act

Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award matching grants to enable states to implement scholarship programs to ensure an adequate supply of health professionals.

Authorizes HHS to award grants to assist medical schools in developing and strengthening primary care mentorship programs and cultivating leaders in primary care among its students.

Requires HHS to award grants to medical and other health professions schools to promote priority competencies that are selected annually by the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry, in order to foster curricular innovations to improve the education and training of health care providers.

Directs the Institute of Medicine to study the documentation requirements for cognitive services (evaluation and management services) required under Medicare and Medicaid and through private health insurers.

Date: 2015-02-13
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health
Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act or the BEST Practices Act

Requires the Department of Defense (DOD), no later than: (1) October 1, 2018, to develop, test, and validate human-based training methods for training members of the Armed Forces in the treatment of combat trauma injuries, with the goal of replacing live animal-based training methods; and (2) October 1, 2020, to use only use human-based training methods for such purposes. Prohibits the use of animals in such training after the latter date.

Requires DOD to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the development and implementation of the human-based training methods.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Creating Access to Residency Education Act of 2015

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to award grants or enter into contracts to create or expand medical residency training programs in states where there are fewer than 25 medical residents per 100,000 people.

An awardee of a grant or contract provides a lower ratio of matching funds if its residency training program is in the field of primary care.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Health (Manpower)
Subject: Health