[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4548 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4548
To authorize the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention to award grants to eligible counties for the use of mobile
clinics and distance learning and telemedicine to diagnose and treat
children with asthma in rural areas and medically underserved
communities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 27, 2019
Mr. Vargas (for himself, Mr. Engel, and Mr. Cox of California)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
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A BILL
To authorize the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention to award grants to eligible counties for the use of mobile
clinics and distance learning and telemedicine to diagnose and treat
children with asthma in rural areas and medically underserved
communities, 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 ``Asthma Care and Prevention in Rural
Communities Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Asthma has a high morbidity and can even lead to death
if not properly managed.
(2) Nationally, over 25 million people suffer from asthma
according to the most recent statistics from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
(3) Nationally, of those who suffer from asthma, 43.6
percent of adults report one or more asthma attacks annually,
and of all children who suffer from asthma, 51.6 percent report
one or more asthma attacks annually.
(4) Nationally the prevalence of asthma among children is
8.4 percent.
(5) When asthma is controlled, it can lead to fewer school
and work days missed, hospitalizations, and emergency room
visits.
(6) While asthma is often believed to be a greater problem
for urban centers, the burden of asthma on rural communities in
the United States is understudied.
(7) Some research suggests that certain rural areas face
the same risk factors as cities.
(8) Research shows that rural communities may have a harder
time accessing care for asthma, due to lack of transportation
to and the distance of residents from health care services.
(9) Mobile asthma clinics have been proven to help
medically underserved communities manage this disease while
providing cost-saving measures.
SEC. 3. ADDRESSING THE BURDEN OF ASTHMA IN RURAL AREAS AND MEDICALLY
UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES.
(a) Grants for Mobile Clinics and Distance Learning and
Telemedicine.--
(1) Authorization.--The Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention may award grants to eligible counties
for the use of mobile clinics and distance learning and
telemedicine--
(A) to diagnose and treat children with asthma in
rural areas, and medically underserved communities, in
eligible counties; and
(B) to educate individuals in such areas and
communities about asthma.
(2) Subgrants.--An eligible county receiving a grant under
paragraph (1) may use the grant funds to award subgrants to
schools, hospitals, or other local organizations to administer
mobile clinics and distance learning and telemedicine in the
county for the purposes listed in paragraph (1).
(3) Definitions.--In this subsection:
(A) The term ``children'' means individuals under
18 years of age.
(B) The term ``eligible counties'' means counties
that each have a prevalence of asthma of 12 percent or
higher among children.
(C) The term ``medically underserved community''
has the meaning given such term in section 799B of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295p).
(4) Authorization of appropriations.--To carry out this
subsection, there is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000
for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.
(b) Study.--The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention shall--
(1) conduct a study on--
(A) the burden of asthma in rural areas of the
United States;
(B) risk and protective factors for asthma in such
areas; and
(C) best practices for preventing and treating
asthma in such areas;
(2) ensure that data used in such study is disaggregated
such that no racial or ethnic subgroup is overlooked due to the
absence of asthma in the larger group to which that subgroup
belongs; and
(3) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, complete such study and submit a report to the
Congress on the results of such study.
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