[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 479 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 479

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide a means for continued 
        improvement in emergency medical services for children.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 13, 2009

   Mr. Matheson (for himself, Mr. King of New York, Mrs. Capps, Mr. 
  Reichert, and Ms. Castor of Florida) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide a means for continued 
        improvement in emergency medical services for children.

    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 ``Wakefield Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There are 31,000,000 child and adolescent visits to the 
        Nation's emergency departments every year.
            (2) Over 90 percent of children requiring emergency care 
        are seen in general hospitals, not in free-standing children's 
        hospitals, with one-quarter to one-third of the patients being 
        children in the typical general hospital emergency department.
            (3) Severe asthma and respiratory distress are the most 
        common emergencies for pediatric patients, representing nearly 
        one-third of all hospitalizations among children under the age 
        of 15 years, while seizures, shock, and airway obstruction are 
        other common pediatric emergencies, followed by cardiac arrest 
        and severe trauma.
            (4) Up to 20 percent of children needing emergency care 
        have underlying medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, 
        sickle-cell disease, low birth weight, and bronchopulmonary 
        dysplasia.
            (5) Significant gaps remain in emergency medical care 
        delivered to children. Only about 6 percent of hospitals have 
        available all the pediatric supplies deemed essential by the 
        American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of 
        Emergency Physicians for managing pediatric emergencies, while 
        about half of hospitals have at least 85 percent of those 
        supplies.
            (6) Providers must be educated and trained to manage 
        children's unique physical and psychological needs in emergency 
        situations, and emergency systems must be equipped with the 
        resources needed to care for this especially vulnerable 
        population.
            (7) Systems of care must be continually maintained, 
        updated, and improved to ensure that research is translated 
        into practice, best practices are adopted, training is current, 
        and standards and protocols are appropriate.
            (8) The Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) 
        Program under section 1910 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
        U.S.C. 300w-9) is the only Federal program that focuses 
        specifically on improving the pediatric components of emergency 
        medical care.
            (9) The EMSC Program promotes the nationwide exchange of 
        pediatric emergency medical care knowledge and collaboration by 
        those with an interest in such care and is depended upon by 
        Federal agencies and national organizations to ensure that this 
        exchange of knowledge and collaboration takes place.
            (10) The EMSC Program also supports a multi-institutional 
        network for research in pediatric emergency medicine, thus 
        allowing providers to rely on evidence rather than anecdotal 
        experience when treating ill or injured children.
            (11) The Institute of Medicine stated in its 2006 report, 
        ``Emergency Care for Children: Growing Pains'', that the EMSC 
        Program ``boasts many accomplishments . . . and the work of the 
        program continues to be relevant and vital''.
            (12) The EMSC Program is celebrating its 25th anniversary, 
        marking a quarter-century of driving key improvements in 
        emergency medical services to children, and should continue its 
        mission to reduce child and youth morbidity and mortality by 
        supporting improvements in the quality of all emergency medical 
        and emergency surgical care children receive.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to reduce child and 
youth morbidity and mortality by supporting improvements in the quality 
of all emergency medical care children receive.

SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN 
              PROGRAM.

    Section 1910 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300w-9) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``3-year period (with an 
        optional 4th year'' and inserting ``4-year period (with an 
        optional 5th year''; and
            (2) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) by striking ``and such sums'' and inserting 
                ``such sums''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the period the following: 
                ``, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, $26,250,000 for 
                fiscal year 2011, $27,562,500 for fiscal year 2012, 
                $28,940,625 for fiscal year 2013, and $30,387,656 for 
                fiscal year 2014''.
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