[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4993 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4993
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a precision
oncology program for cancer of the prostate at the Department of
Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 15, 2026
Mr. Moran introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a precision
oncology program for cancer of the prostate at the Department of
Veterans Affairs, 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 ``Precision Oncology Program for
Cancer of the Prostate Authorization Act of 2026'' or the ``POPCaP Act
of 2026''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PRECISION ONCOLOGY PROGRAM FOR CANCER OF THE
PROSTATE.
(a) Establishment of Program.--
(1) In general.--Subchapter II of chapter 73 of title 38,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following new section:
``Sec. 7330E. Precision oncology program for cancer of the prostate
``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish within the
Department a precision oncology program for cancer of the prostate in
accordance with this section (in this section referred to as the
`Program').
``(b) Eligibility.--A veteran is eligible to participate in the
Program if the veteran has a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
``(c) Centers of Excellence.--
``(1) Designation of centers.--Effective on the date of the
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall designate the
following medical facilities of the Department as provisional
centers of excellence for the Program:
``(A) The Seattle VA Medical Center, Seattle,
Washington.
``(B) The James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx,
New York.
``(C) The Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles VA
Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
``(D) The Margaret Cochran Corbin Manhattan VA
Medical Center, Manhattan, New York.
``(E) The Jesse Brown Department of Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois.
``(F) The West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Los
Angeles, California.
``(G) The Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical
Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
``(H) The Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, North
Carolina.
``(I) The Washington DC VA Medical Center,
Washington, District of Columbia.
``(J) The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, Tampa,
Florida.
``(K) The Portland VA Medical Center, Portland,
Oregon.
``(L) The Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center, Boston,
Massachusetts.
``(M) The San Francisco VA Medical Center, San
Francisco, California.
``(N) The Michael E. DeBakey Department of Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, Houston, Texas.
``(O) The Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical
Center, Aurora, Colorado.
``(P) The John J. Cochran Veterans Hospital, St.
Louis, Missouri.
``(Q) The Kansas City VA Medical Center, Kansas
City, Missouri.
``(R) The Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical
Center, Decatur, Georgia.
``(S) The Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center,
Charleston, South Carolina.
``(T) The Orlando VA Medical Center, Orlando,
Florida.
``(U) The Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore,
Maryland.
``(V) The John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans'
Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas.
``(W) The William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans
Hospital, Madison, Wisconsin.
``(X) The Minneapolis VA Medical Center,
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
``(Y) The George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah.
``(Z) The Carl T. Hayden Veterans' Administration
Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona.
``(AA) The Dallas VA Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
``(BB) The Malcom Randall Department of Veterans
Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, Florida.
``(2) Operational requirements.--
``(A) Minimum number of centers.--The Secretary
shall ensure that, at all times, not fewer than 21
medical facilities of the Department are designated and
operating as centers of excellence under the Program,
with not fewer than one center maintained in each
Veterans Integrated Service Network.
``(B) Duration of secretarial designation.--Subject
to paragraph (3), each center designated under this
section shall be so designated for a period of not less
than five years.
``(3) Additional designations.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary may designate
medical facilities as centers of excellence in addition
to those designated under paragraph (1).
``(B) Protection of initial centers.--For purposes
of complying with the minimum number of designated
centers of excellence requirement under paragraph (2),
the Secretary shall count toward such minimum number
any medical facilities designated pursuant to paragraph
(1) and not terminated under paragraph (4).
``(4) Termination of designation.--
``(A) In general.--Beginning not earlier than
January 1, 2030, the Secretary may terminate the
designation of a medical facility as a center of
excellence under the Program if the Secretary
determines the facility is failing to serve the
purposes of the Program required by this section.
``(B) Process.--The Secretary--
``(i) before terminating a designation
under subparagraph (A), shall submit to the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives a notice of the intent to
terminate the designation; and
``(ii) may not terminate the designation
until the date that is 60 days after the date
of the submission of such notice.
``(5) Performance reviews.--
``(A) In general.--Beginning in 2030, the Secretary
shall conduct reviews of the performance of the centers
of excellence designated under the Program.
``(B) Rolling cycle.--In carrying out subparagraph
(A), the Secretary shall ensure that--
``(i) in 2030 and each year thereafter, the
Secretary reviews and makes a determination on
not more than seven centers;
``(ii) the centers selected for review in
any given year constitute a class of centers
distinct from the classes reviewed in the
preceding four years; and
``(iii) not later than the date of the
submission of the fifth annual report under
subsection (f) following the initial conduct of
reviews under this paragraph, and not later
than every fifth year thereafter, every center
operating under the Program has been reviewed.
``(C) Scope of review.--Each review of a center
under this paragraph shall assess whether the
performance of the center in providing the services
required under this section is adequate to justify the
continued designation of the center as a center of
excellence under the Program.
``(d) Activities and Staffing of Centers.--
``(1) Activities.--Each center designated under subsection
(c) shall carry out the following activities:
``(A) Establishing a program of genetic sequencing
for veterans with advanced prostate cancer.
``(B) Instituting a uniform genetic sequencing
platform to allow for coordination across all centers.
``(C) Participating in the telemedicine tumor board
of the Program.
``(D) Participating in the registry study of the
Program to track mutations.
``(E) Providing travel support to veterans with
mutations to facilitate access to studies.
``(F) Developing clinical trials that are biomarker
specific.
``(G) Participating in industry-sponsored precision
oncology studies.
``(H) Participating in monthly calls and not less
than three in-person meetings per year with the Program
Leadership team established under subsection (e) to
assess progress.
``(I) Providing ongoing reporting to the Program
Leadership team regarding trial accruals and research
conducted by investigators of the Department with
limited experience who are undergoing mentorship.
``(J) Establishing metastasis biopsy capability.
``(K) Extending resources to affiliated centers in
the Veterans Integrated Service Network in which the
center is located.
``(2) Staffing.--The Secretary shall ensure that each
center designated under subsection (c) employs, at a minimum--
``(A) a medical oncologist;
``(B) an interventional radiologist;
``(C) a urologist;
``(D) a radiation oncologist;
``(E) a pathologist; and
``(F) two full-time equivalent research staff
members.
``(e) Program Leadership.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a Program
Leadership team located at the medical facility designated
under subsection (c)(1)(A) (in this section referred to as the
`Program Leadership team').
``(2) Composition.--The Program Leadership team shall
include, at a minimum, an Executive Director, a Clinical
Director, and a Research Director.
``(3) Duties.--The Program Leadership team shall be
responsible for--
``(A) providing strategic liaison services with
industry to ensure engagement by the Department with
study design and participation;
``(B) coordinating participation by the Department
in prostate cancer group studies sponsored by the
National Cancer Institute;
``(C) facilitating the development of study
concepts, design, and start-up with investigators of
the Department with limited experience who are
undergoing mentorship;
``(D) creating and executing a model for hybrid
decentralized clinical trials, including remote
research coordination, regulatory start-up and
maintenance, data management, and approval by an
institutional review board;
``(E) creating and maintaining a prostate cancer
registry and data repository of the Department; and
``(F) maintaining relevant working groups to bring
together expertise of the Department from across the
country.
``(4) Specific responsibilities.--
``(A) Executive director.--The Executive Director
of the Program Leadership team shall--
``(i) provide administrative leadership to
the Program network in partnership with the
Clinical Director;
``(ii) maintain responsibility for the
development, execution, and monitoring of the
national strategic plan of the Program; and
``(iii) serve as the liaison to the
executive steering committee and other
leadership of the Department and centers of
excellence.
``(B) Clinical director.--The Clinical Director of
the Program Leadership team shall--
``(i) oversee the Program network to ensure
eligible veterans receive access to care based
on the latest research;
``(ii) maintain responsibility for the
development and implementation of strategies
for program growth, quality improvement, and
patient satisfaction;
``(iii) serve on the review committee of
the Program for clinical trials to ensure
studies are conducted ethically and
efficiently; and
``(iv) serve as the liaison with
stakeholders to integrate clinical services and
research.
``(C) Research director.--The Research Director of
the Program Leadership team shall--
``(i) provide leadership on national
research objectives;
``(ii) serve on committees to review new
research concepts and projects in the Program
network;
``(iii) maintain a deep understanding of
current research and emerging technologies in
prostate cancer; and
``(iv) interact with stakeholders,
including regulatory agencies, industry
partners, and research institutions, to improve
prostate cancer research within the Department.
``(f) Annual Report.--
``(1) In general.--Not later than March 1 of each year, the
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives a report on the
Program.
``(2) Elements.--Each report submitted under paragraph (1)
shall include, with respect to the period covered by the
report, the following:
``(A) The funding levels for each center of
excellent designated under the Program;
``(B) The number of veterans served by the Program;
``(C) The number of investigators and providers
participating in the Program network;
``(D) The number of publications by providers of
the Department relating to prostate cancer;
``(E) The number of clinical research studies
supported by the network;
``(F) The number of veterans enrolled in such
clinical research studies;
``(G) The five-year survival rate of veterans
enrolled in clinical research studies of the Program
compared to other veterans and civilians with prostate
cancer; and
``(H) The outcomes and survival data for veterans
served at dedicated genitourinary centers under the
Program compared to that of other veterans and
civilians served at other centers of excellence under
the Program.
``(3) Comprehensive plan.--The Secretary shall include in
the report submitted under paragraph (1) in 2029, a
comprehensive plan for the designation and operation of the
centers of excellence under subsection (c)(2)(A), including a
timeline for center evaluations, performance criteria to be
utilized in evaluations, and center selection process.
``(4) Performance review findings.--Beginning with the
report submitted under paragraph (1) in 2031, and all
subsequent such reports, the Secretary shall include results of
the performance reviews conducted pursuant to subsection
(c)(5), including a determination by the Secretary regarding
whether the results of such review for each center justifies
continued designation as a center of excellence.
``(5) Forecast.--Each report submitted under paragraph (1)
shall include forecasts of the matter described in paragraph
(1)(A) for the upcoming review period.''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the
beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 7330D the following new item:
``7330E. Precision oncology program for cancer of the prostate.''.
(b) Establishment, Designation, and Operation.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
establish the program required under section 7330E of title 38,
United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1), including
the designation of program leadership under subsection (e) of
such section and the designation and operation of the centers
of excellence under subsection (c) of such section, by not
later than January 1, 2027.
(2) Terms and conditions.--The designation and operation of
the centers of excellence described in paragraph (1) shall be
conducted under the same terms and conditions and in the same
manner as those centers were designated and operated on January
1, 2023.
(c) Implementation Plan.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall submit to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the
House of Representatives a plan for the implementation of
section 7330E of title 38, United States Code, as added by
subsection (a)(1).
(2) Elements.--The plan required by paragraph (1) shall
include--
(A) an assessment of staffing required at each
center of excellence designated under section 7330E(c)
of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection
(a)(1);
(B) an identification of contracting requirements;
(C) a plan for sequencing platform selection;
(D) a plan for registry creation;
(E) a plan for coordination with a central
institutional review board; and
(F) an identification of anticipated funding levels
for the 10-year period beginning on the date of the
submittal of the plan.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out section
7330E of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a)(1),
$15,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2029.
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