[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 165 (Thursday, September 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6676-S6677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Cassidy, and Ms. Duckworth):
S. 2834. A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to
preserve access to rehabilitation innovation centers under the Medicare
program; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, October 2--9 days from today--is an
important date in the life of one of the bravest people I have ever
met. On October 2, 2005, Army SGT Eric Edmundson was on patrol near the
Iraq-Syria border when a roadside bomb exploded beneath his armored
vehicle.
He survived the blast, but went into cardiac arrest while awaiting
transport to an American military hospital in Germany. Doctors worked
for 30 minutes to restore his pulse. They did, but Sergeant Edmundson
had already suffered severe brain damage from lack of oxygen.
Doctors told his parents that Eric would spend the rest of his life
in a vegetative state and that the best thing they could do for him was
choose a good nursing home. But Eric's family refused to accept that
fate for him. They searched for the best rehabilitation hospital in
America, somewhere where Eric could receive the very best medical care
and make the fullest possible recovery.
The hospital they chose was the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago,
then known by its original name: the Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago.
I visited him there several times. His family was always there, right
by his side. I will never forget the time Eric's dad told me, ``Eric
has a present for you.'' I couldn't imagine what it was. Then I watched
as that brave soldier stood up from his wheelchair and took several
halting steps. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.
Six months after he arrived, I watched Eric Edmundson, in his Army
dress uniform, walk out of that amazing hospital and into the arms of
his wife and their 2-year-old daughter.
I thought of Eric Edmundson and his miraculous recovery when I
learned earlier this month of the death of Dr. Joanne Smith, a medical
visionary and the longtime president and CEO of Shirley Ryan
AbilityLab. She died at home, with her family at her side, after
battling cancer privately for 5 years. She continued to lead Shirley
Ryan right up to the end.
Loretta and I offer our condolences to her husband of 33 years, Rory
Repicky, their children, Claire and Michael, Joanne's 16 nieces and
nephews, and her family, colleagues, and friends, who are too numerous
to count.
Dr. Joanne Smith was a once-in-a-lifetime leader and a national
treasure. With her brilliance, determination, and compassion, she
reinvented the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation. As
president and CEO of Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, she imagined--and then
led the drive to create--the world's first-ever ``translational''
research hospital for rehabilitation medicine. She pioneered the
concept of a cutting-edge research facility within a hospital, with
scientists, innovators, technologists, and clinicians all working
together to heal patients. Seeing her team work miracles with wounded
veterans, injured police officers, or stroke survivors made you a
believer.
Joanne Smith originally planned to be a nurse but changed her major
to pre-med after working as a hospital orderly. A chance meeting during
medical school with a young girl at a free health clinic in Detroit
changed her life--and the future of rehabilitation medicine.
The young girl had had both legs amputated because of spina bifida,
but she had learned to walk using her arms as legs and her hands as
feet. She was happy. But her mother wanted her to have a more
``normal'' appearance, so doctors fitted her with a sort of harness
that included two prosthetic legs and gave her a wheelchair.
Dr. Smith said it disturbed her to see how a once-happy girl became
sad and less able as a result of a change in her appearance to fit
society's biases and expectations. She would spend the rest of her life
working to discover cures that made patients more able, not less.
She came to Shirley Ryan, then called the Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago, for her residency in 1988, fresh out of medical school, and
thank goodness, she never left. In 2006, a few years after earning her
MBA from the University of Chicago, she became president and CEO. At
that point, the hospital had been ranked at the No. 1 rehabilitation
hospital in America by U.S. News & World Report for nearly two decades.
If Joanne Smith had done nothing as president and CEO except more of
the same, she would have been at the top of her field. But ``more of
the same'' was not in her makeup. She resolved to create a new model
for rehabilitation hospitals--the research institute within the
hospital--so that new discoveries could reach patients in real time.
The reimagined hospital opened with a new name in 2017. Just
recently, it was ranked as the best rehabilitation hospital in the
Nation for the 31st year in a row, a record unmatched by any hospital.
Physical and rehabilitation medicine is a relatively new field of
medicine. It began after World War II, with doctors and researchers
searching for ways to help injured servicemembers regain as much of
their abilities as possible.
Today, advanced rehabilitation hospitals such as Shirley Ryan
AbilityLab work with children and adults with severe, complex
conditions--from traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, to
amputations or serious birth defects, enabling them to live as fully
and independently as possible. The demand for such medical innovations
is large and growing.
The partnership at Shirley Ryan of brilliant doctors and researchers
working with brave patients has resulted in some breathtaking
discoveries. In 2006, doctors there outfitted a man with a prosthetic
arm that he could move with his thoughts. With his thoughts. That
surgery--the first of its kind in the world--has since helped
revolutionize treatment for people who have lost limbs.
More recently, researchers at Shirley Ryan created the world's first
manual standing wheelchair, that allows users to move while seated or
standing.
Shirley Ryan serves more than 50,000 patients year from nearly every
State and more than 70 countries. It is miraculous, but it is not
alone. There are a handful of rehabilitation innovation centers like it
in America. These are the best of the best, cutting-edge research labs
within world-class hospitals that also prioritize training the next
generation of doctors and healers.
My friend, Senator Cassidy of Louisiana, has seen similar miracles at
TIRR Memorial Hermann, a world-class rehabilitation hospital in
Houston, TX, where many people from Louisiana and around the world go
for advanced treatment.
The discoveries at America's best rehabilitation innovations centers
are revolutionizing medicine, and they are reaching people far beyond
their own walls. But making such discoveries and propelling the field
of rehabilitation medicine forward costs money--more money than these
nonprofit centers can afford on their own.
That is why, today, Senator Cassidy and I are reintroducing our
bipartisan proposal to recognize and support some of America's best
rehabilitation innovation centers. Our bill does two things. First, it
directs the Department of Health and Human Services to set criteria for
such ``rehabilitation innovation centers'' and to share best practices
and teachings from these institutions with health providers throughout
the Nation and the world.
Second, our bill directs HHS to study whether Medicare's existing
payment system is adequate to support the groundbreaking treatment,
research, and medical education that is taking place at these
hospitals.
[[Page S6677]]
When I first introduced this bill in 2013, I had a different
Republican cosponsor, Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. In 2012, Senator
Kirk suffered a stroke that left him partly paralyzed and unable to
walk. A year later, after months of grueling work at R.I.C., he was
able to walk up the 42 steps to this Capitol Building.
In honor of the doctor whose brilliance and compassion helped
transform the field of physical and rehabilitation medicine that led to
the astonishing feat and so many others, Senator Cassidy and I have
agreed to rename our bill the Dr. Joanne Smith Memorial Rehabilitation
Innovation Centers Act.
I will close with this thought from another brave person who helped
to revolutionize rehabilitation medicine. Christopher Reeve was
America's Superman in the movies--until he was paralyzed from the
shoulders down in an equestrian accident in 1995.
During the last decade of his life, he regained limited movement in
his arms and legs. He also spent a great deal of time raising awareness
of and money for the kinds of cutting-edge treatments that are
pioneered at institutions such as Shirley Ryan.
In his last public appearance, he spoke at Shirley Ryan. He said,
``It gets lonely sometimes to [urge people] `Come on, let's take
reasonable risks. Let's try and be safe--but let's be bold at the same
time.' ''
Christopher Reeve said, ``Doctors should take the word `impossible'
out of their lexicons.''
That courageous, bold optimism--be safe, but be bold at the same
time--is what drove Dr. Joanne Smith and what inspires the work at
America's best rehabilitation centers of innovation. Our bipartisan
bill, we hope, will help advance their work.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printing in the Record.
S. 2834
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 ``Dr. Joanne Smith Memorial
Rehabilitation Innovation Centers Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. PRESERVING ACCESS TO REHABILITATION INNOVATION
CENTERS UNDER MEDICARE.
(a) In General.--Section 1886(j)(7)(E) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(j)(7)(E)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Public availability of data submitted.--
The'' and inserting ``Public availability of data
submitted.--
``(i) In general.--The''; and
(2) by inserting after clause (i), as redesignated by
paragraph (1), the following new clauses:
``(ii) Public recognition of rehabilitation innovation
centers.--Beginning not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this clause, the Secretary shall make
publicly available on such Internet website, in addition to
the information required to be reported on such website under
clause (i), a list of all rehabilitation innovation centers,
and shall update such list on such website not less
frequently than biennially. In carrying out the activities
under this clause, the Secretary shall disseminate research,
best practices, and other clinical information identified or
developed by such rehabilitation innovation centers to, as
appropriate, Federal agencies, hospitals, health professional
organizations, and national and State accreditation bodies.
``(iii) Rehabilitation innovation centers defined.--For
purposes of clause (ii), the term `rehabilitation innovation
centers' means a rehabilitation facility that, as of the
applicable date (as defined in clause (v)), is a
rehabilitation facility described in clause (iv).
``(iv) Rehabilitation facility described.--A rehabilitation
facility described in this clause is a rehabilitation
facility that--
``(I) is classified as a rehabilitation facility under the
IRF Rate Setting File for the Inpatient Rehabilitation
Facility Prospective Payment System for Federal Fiscal Year
2019 (83 Fed. Reg. 38514), or any successor regulations that
contain such information;
``(II) holds, as of the applicable date at least one
Federal rehabilitation research and training designation for
research projects on traumatic brain injury or spinal cord
injury from the National Institute on Disability, Independent
Living, and Rehabilitation Research at the Department of
Health and Human Services, based on such data submitted to
the Secretary by a facility, in a form, manner, and time
frame specified by the Secretary;
``(III) submits to the Secretary a description of the
clinical research enterprise of the facility and a summary of
research activities of the facility that are supported by
Federal agencies;
``(IV) has a minimum Medicare estimated weight per
discharge of 1.20 for the most recent fiscal year for which
such information is available according to the IRF Rate
Setting File described in subclause (I), or any successor
regulations that contain such information; and
``(V) has a minimum teaching status of 0.075 for the most
recent fiscal year for which such information is available
according to the IRF Rate Setting File described in subclause
(I), or any successor regulations that contain such
information.
``(v) Applicable date defined.--For purposes of clauses
(iii) and (iv), the term `applicable date' means--
``(I) with respect to the initial publication of a list
under clause (ii), the date of the enactment of such clause;
and
``(II) with respect to the publication of an updated list
under clause (ii), a date specified by the Secretary that is
not more than one year prior to the date of such publication.
``(vi) Implementation.--Notwithstanding any other provision
of law the Secretary may implement clauses (ii) through (v)
by program instruction or otherwise.
``(vii) Nonapplication of paperwork reduction act.--Chapter
35 of title 44, United States Code, shall not apply to data
collected under clauses (ii) through (v).''.
(b) Report.--Not later than March 15, 2022, the Secretary
of Health and Human Services shall submit to Congress a
report containing any recommendations for such legislation or
administrative action as the Secretary determines appropriate
to preserve access to rehabilitation innovation centers (as
defined in section 1886(j)(7)(E)(iii) of the Social Security
Act, as added by subsection (a)).
______
By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Ossoff):
S. 2835. A bill to terminate authorizations for the use of military
force and declarations of war no later than 10 years after the
enactment of such authorizations or declarations; to the Committee on
Foreign Relations.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2835
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 ``Accountability for Endless
Wars Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF AUTHORIZATIONS FOR THE USE OF MILITARY
FORCE AND DECLARATIONS OF WAR.
(a) Future Authorizations for the Use of Military Force and
Declarations of War.--Any authorization for the use of
military force or declaration of war enacted into law after
the date of enactment of this Act shall terminate on the date
that is 10 years after the date of enactment of such
authorization or declaration.
(b) Existing Authorizations for the Use of Military Force
and Declarations of War.--Any authorization for the use of
military force or declaration of war enacted before the date
of the enactment of this Act shall terminate on the date that
is 6 months after the date of such enactment.
____________________