[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4284 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4284

To establish a Federal Coordinator within the Department of Health and 
                Human Services, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 2017

 Mr. Latta (for himself, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Barton, and Mr. Johnson of 
    Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish a Federal Coordinator within the Department of Health and 
                Human Services, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Indexing Narcotics, Fentanyl, and 
Opioids Act of 2017'' or the ``INFO Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL COORDINATOR.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
appoint a Federal Coordinator for the Department of Health and Human 
Services to carry out the duties described in subsection (b).
    (b) Duties.--The Federal Coordinator shall--
            (1) coordinate programs within the Department of Health and 
        Human Services that relate to opioid abuse reduction;
            (2) serve as a liaison to State and local governments and 
        entities carrying out activities relating to opioid abuse 
        reduction pursuant to a Federal contract or grant; and
            (3) in consultation with the United States Attorney 
        General, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Director of the 
        Office of National Drug Control Policy, and any other 
        individual that the Federal Coordinator determines appropriate, 
        establish and operate a publicly available electronic database 
        through which the Federal Coordinator shall carry out the 
        following:
                    (A) Collect data on opioid abuse from Federal 
                agencies; State, local, and Tribal governments; 
                nonprofit organizations; law enforcement; medical 
                experts; public health educators; and research 
                institutions.
                    (B) Publish a comprehensive list of Federal funding 
                resources available to States for research on opioid 
                abuse.
                    (C) Analyze causes and trends behind opioid 
                addiction and pain management.
                    (D) Evaluate the effectiveness of Federal programs 
                for opioid abuse reduction, including opioid treatment 
                programs and medicated-assisted treatments.
                    (E) Evaluate whether any Federal programs for 
                opioid abuse reduction are duplicative.
                    (F) Evaluate the extent to which Federal grants for 
                the implementation of opioid abuse prevention 
                strategies are successful in addressing opioid abuse in 
                local communities.
                    (G) Provide recommendations to health care 
                providers on alternatives to opioids for pain 
                management and other areas in which health care 
                providers can improve with respect to treating or 
                preventing opioid abuse.
                    (H) Analyze opioid prescription guidelines, the 
                different types of opioids prescribed by health care 
                providers, and the use of medicated-assisted 
                treatments.
                    (I) Compare the rate of opioid abuse in veterans 
                receiving health care through the Department of 
                Veterans Affairs with the rate of opioid abuse in the 
                general population.
                    (J) Compare opioid abuse trends and prevention and 
                treatment strategies in different regions and 
                populations of the United States and determine whether 
                certain strategies are more effective than others.
                    (K) Analyze to what extent Federal prevention and 
                treatment strategies for opioid abuse are aligned with 
                State and local prevention and treatment strategies.
    (c) Reports.--
            (1) Initial report.--Not later than one year after the date 
        of the enactment of this section, the Federal Coordinator shall 
        submit to Congress an initial report on the results of any 
        analysis, evaluation, or comparison conducted under subsection 
        (b)(3).
            (2) Updated report.--Not later than five years after the 
        date of the enactment of this section, the Federal Coordinator 
        shall submit to Congress a report that provides updates with 
        respect to any results submitted in the initial report under 
        paragraph (1).
            (3) Public availability.--Each report submitted under this 
        subsection shall be made publicly available on the electronic 
        database established under subsection (b)(3).
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