[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2932 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2932

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the poison center 
 national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program 
  to provide assistance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of 
 poison centers, and enhance the public health of people of the United 
                                States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 29, 2008

 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 reauthorize the poison center 
 national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program 
  to provide assistance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of 
 poison centers, and enhance the public health of people of the United 
                                States.

    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 Support, Enhancement, 
and Awareness Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Poison control centers are the primary defense of the 
        United States against injury and deaths from poisoning. Twenty-
        four hours a day, the general public as well as health care 
        practitioners contact their local poison control centers for 
        help in diagnosing and treating victims of poisoning. In 2007, 
        more than 4,000,000 calls were managed by poison control 
        centers providing ready and direct access for all people of the 
        United States, including many underserved populations in the 
        United States, with vital emergency public health information 
        and response.
            (2) Poisoning is the second most common form of 
        unintentional death in the United States. In any given year, 
        there will be between 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 poison exposures. 
        Sixty percent of these exposures will involve children under 
        the age of 6 who are exposed to toxins in their home. Poisoning 
        accounts for 285,000 hospitalizations, 1,200,000 days of acute 
        hospital care, and more than 26,000 fatalities in 2005.
            (3) In 2008, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center 
        reported that poisonings from accidents and unknown 
        circumstances more than tripled in rate since 1990. In 2005, 
        the last year for which data are available, 26,858 people died 
        from accidental or unknown poisonings. This represents an 
        increase of 20,000 since 1990 and an increase of 2,400 between 
        2004 and 2005. Fatalities from poisoning are increasing in the 
        United States in near epidemic proportions. The funding of 
        programs to reverse this trend is needed now more than ever.
            (4) In 2004, The Institute of Medicine of the National 
        Academy of Sciences recommended that ``Congress should amend 
        the current Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act 
        Amendments of 2003 to provide sufficient funding to support the 
        proposed Poison Prevention and Control System with its national 
        network of poison centers. Support for the core activities at 
        the current level of service is estimated to require more than 
        $100 million annually.''.
            (5) Sustaining the funding structure and increasing 
        accessibility to poison control centers will promote the 
        utilization of poison control centers and reduce the 
        inappropriate use of emergency medical services and other more 
        costly health care services. The 2004 Institute of Medicine 
        Report to Congress determined that for every $1 invested in the 
        Nation's poison control centers $7 of health care costs are 
        saved. In 2005, direct Federal health care program savings 
        totaled in excess of $525,000,000 as the result of poison 
        control center public health services.
            (6) More than 30 percent of the cost savings and financial 
        benefits of the Nation's network of poison control centers are 
        realized annually by Federal health care programs (estimated to 
        be more than $1,000,000,000), yet Federal funding support (as 
        demonstrated by the annual authorization of $30,100,000 in 
        Public Law 108-194) comprises less than 11 percent of the 
        annual network expenditures of poison centers.
            (7) Real-time data collected from the Nation's certified 
        poison control centers can be an important source of 
        information for the detection, monitoring, and response for 
        contamination of the air, water, pharmaceutical, or food 
        supply.
            (8) In the event of a terrorist event, poison control 
        centers will be relied upon as a critical source for accurate 
        medical information and public health emergency response 
        concerning the treatment of patients who have had an exposure 
        to a chemical, radiological, or biological agent.

SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS NATIONAL TOLL-FREE 
              NUMBER.

    Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-71) 
is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 1271. MAINTENANCE OF THE NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall provide coordination and 
assistance to poison control centers for the establishment of a 
nationwide toll-free phone number, and the maintenance of such number, 
to be used to access such centers.
    ``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 to carry out this section, 
and $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for the 
maintenance of the nationwide toll free phone number under subsection 
(a).''.

SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON 
              CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300d-72) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER 
              UTILIZATION.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall carry out, and expand upon, 
a national media campaign to educate the public and health care 
providers about poison prevention and the availability of poison 
control center resources in local communities and to conduct 
advertising campaigns concerning the nationwide toll-free number 
established under section 1271(a).
    ``(b) Contract With Entity.--The Secretary may carry out subsection 
(a) by entering into contracts with one or more public or private 
entities, including nationally recognized organizations in the field of 
poison control and national media firms, for the development and 
implementation of a nationwide poison prevention and poison control 
center awareness campaign, which may include--
            ``(1) the development and distribution of poison prevention 
        and poison control center awareness materials;
            ``(2) television, radio, Internet, and newspaper public 
        service announcements; and
            ``(3) other activities to provide for public and 
        professional awareness and education.
    ``(c) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to 
        quantitatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide media 
        campaign carried out under this section; and
            ``(2) on an annual basis, prepare and submit to the 
        appropriate committees of Congress, an evaluation of the 
        nationwide media campaign.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, such sums as may be necessary 
for fiscal year 2009, and $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 
through 2014.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall be 
effective on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply to 
contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2009.

SEC. 5. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 300d-73) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Authorization of Program.--The Secretary shall award grants 
to poison control centers certified under subsection (c) (or granted a 
waiver under subsection (d)) and professional organizations in the 
field of poison control for the purposes of preventing, and providing 
treatment recommendations for, poisonings and complying with the 
operational requirements needed to sustain the certification of the 
center under subsection (c).
    ``(b) Additional Uses of Grant Funds.--In addition to the purposes 
described in subsection (a), a poison center or professional 
organization awarded a grant under such subsection may also use amounts 
received under such grant--
            ``(1) to establish and evaluate best practices in the 
        United States for poison prevention, poison control center 
        outreach, and emergency and preparedness programs;
            ``(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, and 
        communicate standard patient management guidelines for commonly 
        encountered toxic exposures;
            ``(3) to improve national toxic exposure surveillance by 
        enhancing cooperative activities between poison control centers 
        in the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention;
            ``(4) to develop, support, and enhance technology and 
        capabilities of professional organizations in the field of 
        poison control to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, 
        and related public health data;
            ``(5) to develop initiatives to foster the enhanced public 
        health utilization of national poison data collected by 
        organizations described in paragraph (4);
            ``(6) to support and expand the toxicologic expertise 
        within poison control centers; and
            ``(7) to improve the capacity of poison control centers to 
        answer high volumes of calls and respond during times of 
        national crisis or other public health emergencies.
    ``(c) Certification.--Except as provided in subsection (d), the 
Secretary may award a grant to a poison control center under subsection 
(a) only if--
            ``(1) the center has been certified by a professional 
        organization in the field of poison control, and the Secretary 
        has approved the organization as having in effect standards for 
        certification that reasonably provide for the protection of the 
        public health with respect to poisoning; or
            ``(2) the center has been certified by a State government, 
        and the Secretary has approved the State government as having 
        in effect standards for certification that reasonably provide 
        for the protection of the public health with respect to 
        poisoning.
    ``(d) Waiver of Certification Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may grant a waiver of the 
        certification requirements of subsection (c) with respect to a 
        noncertified poison control center that applies for a grant 
        under this section if such center can reasonably demonstrate 
        that the center will obtain such a certification within a 
        reasonable period of time as determined appropriate by the 
        Secretary.
            ``(2) Renewal.--The Secretary may renew a waiver under 
        paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Limitation.--In no case may the sum of the number of 
        years for a waiver under paragraph (1) and a renewal under 
        paragraph (2) exceed 5 years. The preceding sentence shall take 
        effect as of the date of the enactment of the Poison Center 
        Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008.
    ``(e) Supplement Not Supplant.--Amounts made available to a poison 
control center under this section shall be used to supplement and not 
supplant other Federal, State, or local funds provided for such center.
    ``(f) Maintenance of Effort.--A poison control center, in utilizing 
the proceeds of a grant under this section, shall maintain the 
expenditures of the center for activities of the center 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.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, $27,500,000 for fiscal year 
2009, and $35,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall be 
effective as of the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply 
to grants made on or after January 1, 2009.
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