[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4992 Introduced in House (IH)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 4992

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish health professions 
                programs regarding practice of pharmacy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 21, 2002

  Mr. Tauzin introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish health professions 
                programs regarding practice of pharmacy.

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

SEC. 942. CERTAIN HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAMS REGARDING PRACTICE OF 
              PHARMACY.

    Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following subpart:

               ``Subpart 3--Pharmacist Workforce Programs

``SEC. 771. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.

    ``(a) Public Service Announcements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall develop and issue 
        public service announcements that advertise and promote the 
        pharmacist profession, highlight the advantages and rewards of 
        being a pharmacist, and encourage individuals to enter the 
        pharmacist profession.
            ``(2) Method.--The public service announcements described 
        in subsection (a) shall be broadcast through appropriate media 
        outlets, including television or radio, in a manner intended to 
        reach as wide and diverse an audience as possible.
    ``(b) State and Local Public Service Announcements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall award grants to 
        entities to support State and local advertising campaigns 
        through appropriate media outlets to promote the pharmacist 
        profession, highlight the advantages and rewards of being a 
        pharmacist, and encourage individuals from disadvantaged 
        backgrounds to enter the pharmacist profession.
            ``(2) Use of funds.--An entity that receives a grant under 
        subsection (a) shall use funds received through such grant to 
        acquire local television and radio time, place advertisements 
        in local newspapers, and post information on billboards or on 
        the Internet, in order to--
                    ``(A) advertise and promote the pharmacist 
                profession;
                    ``(B) promote pharmacist education programs;
                    ``(C) inform the public of public assistance 
                regarding such education programs;
                    ``(D) highlight individuals in the community that 
                are presently practicing as pharmacists to recruit new 
                pharmacists; and
                    ``(E) provide any other information to recruit 
                individuals for the pharmacist profession.
            ``(3) Method.--The campaigns described in subsection (a) 
        shall be broadcast on television or radio, placed in newspapers 
        as advertisements, or posted on billboards or the Internet, in 
        a manner intended to reach as wide and diverse an audience as 
        possible.

``SEC. 772. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish a demonstration 
project to enhance the participation of individuals who are pharmacists 
in the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program described 
in section 338B.
    ``(b) Services.--Services that may be provided by pharmacists 
pursuant to the demonstration project established under this section 
include medication therapy management services to assure that 
medications are used appropriately by patients, to enhance patients' 
understanding of the appropriate use of medications, to increase 
patients' adherence to prescription medication regimens, to reduce the 
risk of adverse events associated with medications, and to reduce the 
need for other costly medical services through better management of 
medication therapy. Such services may include case management, disease 
management, drug therapy management, patient training and education, 
counseling, drug therapy problem resolution, medication administration, 
the provision of special packaging, or other services that enhance the 
use of prescription medications.
    ``(c) Procedure.--The Secretary may not provide assistance to an 
individual under this section unless the individual agrees to comply 
with all requirements described in sections 338B and 338D.
    ``(d) Limitations.--The demonstration project described in this 
section shall provide for the participation of--
            ``(1) individuals to provide services in rural and urban 
        areas; and
            ``(2) enough individuals to allow the Secretary to properly 
        analyze the effectiveness of such project.
    ``(e) Designations.--The demonstration project described in this 
section, and any pharmacists who are selected to participate in such 
project, shall not be considered by the Secretary in the designation of 
a health professional shortage area under section 332 during fiscal 
years 2003 through 2005.
    ``(f) Rule of Construction.--This section shall not be construed to 
require any State to participate in the project described in this 
section.
    ``(g) Report.--The Secretary shall prepare and submit a report on 
the project to--
                    ``(A) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                and Pensions of the Senate;
                    ``(B) the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
                Services, and Education of the Committee on 
                Appropriations of the Senate;
                    ``(C) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
                House of Representatives; and
                    ``(D) the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 
                Services, and Education of the Committee on 
                Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

``SEC. 773. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.

    ``(a) Grants and Contracts.--The Secretary may make awards of 
grants or contracts to qualifying schools of pharmacy for the purpose 
of assisting such schools in acquiring and installing computer-based 
systems to provide pharmaceutical education. Education provided through 
such systems may be graduate education, professional education, or 
continuing education. The computer-based systems may be designed to 
provide on-site education, or education at remote sites (commonly 
referred to as distance learning), or both.
    ``(b) Qualifying School of Pharmacy.--For purposes of this section, 
the term `qualifying school of pharmacy' means a school of pharmacy (as 
defined in section 799B) that requires students to serve in a clinical 
rotation in which pharmacist services are part of the curriculum.

``SEC. 774. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``For the purpose of carrying out this subpart, there are 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for each of 
the fiscal years 2003 through 2006.''.
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