I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2852
To require the Secretary of Defense to provide to firefighters of the Depart-
ment of Defense medical testing and related services to detect and
prevent certain cancers.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL25, 2023
Ms. S
LOTKIN(for herself and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Defense to provide to firefighters
of the Department of Defense medical testing and related
services to detect and prevent certain cancers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Firefighter 4
Cancer Detection and Prevention Act of 2023’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2852.IH H2852
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 2852 IH
SEC. 2. MEDICAL TESTING AND RELATED SERVICES FOR 1
FIREFIGHTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF DE-2
FENSE. 3
(a) P
ROVISION OFSERVICES.—During the annual 4
periodic health assessment of each firefighter of the De-5
partment of Defense, or at such other intervals as may 6
be indicated in this subsection, the Secretary shall provide 7
to the firefighter (at no cost to the firefighter) appropriate 8
medical testing and related services to detect, document 9
the presence or absence of, and prevent, certain cancers. 10
Such services shall meet, at a minimum, the following cri-11
teria: 12
(1) B
REAST CANCER.—With respect to the 13
breast cancer screening, if the firefighter is a female 14
firefighter— 15
(A) such services shall include the provi-16
sion of a mammogram to the firefighter— 17
(i) on at least a biannual basis if the 18
firefighter is 40 years old to 49 years old 19
(inclusive); 20
(ii) on at least an annual basis if the 21
firefighter is at least 50 years old; and 22
(iii) as clinically indicated (without re-23
gard to age); and 24
(B) in connection with such provision, a li-25
censed radiologist shall review the most recent 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2852.IH H2852
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 2852 IH
mammogram provided to the firefighter, as 1
compared to prior mammograms so provided, 2
and provide to the firefighter the results of such 3
review. 4
(2) C
OLON CANCER.—With respect to colon 5
cancer screening— 6
(A) if the firefighter is at least 40 years 7
old, and as otherwise clinically indicated, such 8
services shall include the communication to the 9
firefighter of the risks and benefits of stool- 10
based blood testing; 11
(B) if the firefighter is at least 45 years 12
old, and as clinically indicated (without regard 13
to age), such services shall include the provi-14
sion, at regular intervals, of visual examinations 15
(such as a colonoscopy, CT colonoscopy, or 16
flexible sigmoidoscopy) or stool-based blood 17
testing; and 18
(C) in connection with such provision, a li-19
censed physician shall review and provide to the 20
firefighter the results of such examination or 21
testing, as the case may be. 22
(3) P
ROSTATE CANCER.—With respect to pros-23
tate cancer screening, if the firefighter is a male 24
firefighter, the communication to the firefighter of 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2852.IH H2852
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 2852 IH
the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screenings 1
and the provision to the firefighter of a prostate-spe-2
cific antigen test— 3
(A) on an annual basis, if the firefighter is 4
at least 50 years old; 5
(B) on an annual basis, if the firefighter is 6
at least 40 years old and is a high-risk indi-7
vidual; and 8
(C) as clinically indicated (without regard 9
to age). 10
(4) O
THER CANCERS.—Such services shall in-11
clude routine screenings for any other cancer the 12
risk or occurrence of which the Director of the Cen-13
ters for Disease Control and Prevention has identi-14
fied as higher among firefighters than among the 15
general public, the provision of which shall be car-16
ried out during the annual periodic health assess-17
ment of the firefighter. 18
(b) O
PTIONALNATURE.—A firefighter of the Depart-19
ment of Defense may opt out of the receipt of a medical 20
testing or related service provided under subsection (a). 21
(c) U
SE OFCONSENSUSTECHNICALSTANDARDS.— 22
In providing medical testing and related services under 23
subsection (a), the Secretary shall use consensus technical 24
standards in accordance with section 12(d) of the National 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2852.IH H2852
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 2852 IH
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 1
U.S.C. 272 note). 2
(d) D
OCUMENTATION.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In providing medical testing 4
and related services under subsection (a), the Sec-5
retary— 6
(A) shall document the acceptance rates of 7
such tests offered and the rates of such tests 8
performed; 9
(B) shall document tests results, to iden-10
tify trends in the rates of cancer occurrences 11
among firefighters; and 12
(C) may collect and maintain additional in-13
formation from the recipients of such tests and 14
other services, to allow for appropriate scientific 15
analysis. 16
(2) P
RIVACY.—In analyzing any information of 17
an individual documented, collected, or maintained 18
under paragraph (1), in addition to complying with 19
other applicable privacy laws, the Secretary shall en-20
sure the name, and any other personally identifiable 21
information, of the individual is removed from such 22
information prior to the analysis. 23
(3) S
HARING WITH CENTERS FOR DISEASE 24
CONTROL AND PREVENTION .—The Secretary may 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 May 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2852.IH H2852
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 2852 IH
share data from any tests performed under sub-1
section (a) with the Director of the Centers for Dis-2
ease Control and Prevention, as appropriate, to in-3
crease the knowledge and understanding of cancer 4
occurrences among firefighters. 5
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
(1) The term ‘‘firefighter’’ has the meaning 7
given that term in section 707 of the National De-8
fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Pub-9
lic Law 116–92; 133 Stat. 1441; 10 U.S.C. 1074m 10
note). 11
(2) The term ‘‘high-risk individual’’ means an 12
individual who— 13
(A) is African American; 14
(B) has at least one first-degree relative 15
who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer at 16
an early age; or 17
(C) is otherwise determined by the Sec-18
retary to be high risk with respect to prostate 19
cancer. 20
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2852.IH H2852
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS