[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 903 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 903

To amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance the roles of dentists 
     and allied dental personnel in the Nation's disaster response 
                   framework, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 2009

  Mr. Stupak (for himself and Mrs. Miller of Michigan) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance the roles of dentists 
     and allied dental personnel in the Nation's disaster response 
                   framework, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Dental Emergency 
Responder Act of 2009''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
              TITLE I--PUBLIC HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESPONSE

Sec. 101. National health security strategy.
Sec. 102. All-hazards public health and medical response curricula and 
                            training.
                      TITLE II--HOMELAND SECURITY

Sec. 201. National response framework.
Sec. 202. National preparedness system.
Sec. 203. Chief medical officer.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 
        Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005 revealed substantial shortcomings 
        in the Nation's ability to provide for the medical and other 
        health-related needs of disaster victims when a community's 
        basic medical infrastructure is overwhelmed or suddenly 
        compromised.
            (2) The dental workforce can do much to enhance the 
        Nation's medical surge capacity. Dentists take many of the same 
        core health care courses as do physicians, and their training 
        may even exceed the basic health care curricula of most 
        paramedics and emergency medical technicians. Most dental 
        facilities can also be used as decentralized treatment centers 
        and drug storage and distribution sites when hospital 
        facilities become overwhelmed.
            (3) Most Federal disaster response policies, plans, and 
        programs do not reflect the full extent to which dentists and 
        auxiliary dental personnel can contribute to the Nation's 
        medical surge capacity. Dental schools, for example, have at 
        times been denied Federal public health and medical response 
        training funds on the grounds that dentists are not identified 
        by name in the Federal definitions of ``public health worker'' 
        and ``emergency response provider''.
            (4) Dentists and allied dental personnel are often willing 
        to support the medical and public health response to disasters 
        and, with little additional training, could easily be 
        incorporated into an all-hazards emergency health care 
        paradigm.

              TITLE I--PUBLIC HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESPONSE

SEC. 101. NATIONAL HEALTH SECURITY STRATEGY.

    Section 2802(b)(3) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
300hh-1(b)(3)) is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting 
        ``dental and'' before ``mental health facilities''; and
            (2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ``and dental'' after 
        ``medical''.

SEC. 102. ALL-HAZARDS PUBLIC HEALTH AND MEDICAL RESPONSE CURRICULA AND 
              TRAINING.

    Section 319F(a)(5)(B) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
247d-6(a)(5)(B)) is amended by striking ``public health or medical'' 
and inserting ``public health, medical, or dental''.

                      TITLE II--HOMELAND SECURITY

SEC. 201. NATIONAL RESPONSE FRAMEWORK.

    Paragraph (6) of section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 
U.S.C. 101) is amended by inserting ``and dental'' after ``emergency 
medical''.

SEC. 202. NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS SYSTEM.

    Subparagraph (B) of section 653(b)(4) of the Post-Katrina Emergency 
Management Reform Act of 2006 (6 U.S.C. 753(b)(4)) is amended by 
striking ``public health and medical'' and inserting ``public health, 
medical, and dental''.

SEC. 203. CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER.

    Paragraph (5) of section 516(c) of the Homeland Security Act of 
2002 (6 U.S.C. 321e(c)) is amended by striking ``medical community'' 
and inserting ``medical and dental communities''.
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