[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 168 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 168

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the prevention, 
diagnosis, and treatment of veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary 
                                disease.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 2011

 Mr. Stearns introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the prevention, 
diagnosis, and treatment of veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary 
                                disease.

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

SECTION 1. IMPROVEMENT OF PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, AND 
              MANAGEMENT OF CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE.

    (a) Treatment of COPD.--Subject to the availability of 
appropriations provided for such purpose, the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall--
            (1) develop treatment protocols and related tools for the 
        prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of chronic 
        obstructive pulmonary disease; and
            (2) improve biomedical and prosthetic research programs 
        regarding chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
    (b) Pilot Programs.--Subject to the availability of appropriations 
provided for such purpose, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in 
coordination with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, the Director of the Indian Health Service, and the 
Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Agency, shall 
develop pilot programs to demonstrate best practices for the diagnosis 
and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
    (c) Smoking Cessation.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to the availability of 
        appropriations provided for such purpose, the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs, in coordination with the Director of the 
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall develop 
        improved techniques and best practices for assisting 
        individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 
        successfully quitting smoking.
            (2) Unique needs of copd patients.--In carrying out 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary--
                    (A) shall identify subpopulations of individuals 
                with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that have 
                unique needs with respect to quitting smoking; and
                    (B) may conduct research to determine whether the 
                techniques and best practices developed under paragraph 
                (1) are different from techniques and best practices 
                used to assist individuals with other chronic diseases 
                in successfully quitting smoking.
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