II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 2665
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY27, 2023
Mr. C
ARPER(for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and 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 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2
•S 2665 IS
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 subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense 7
shall provide to the firefighter (at no cost to the fire-8
fighter) appropriate medical testing and related services 9
to detect, document the presence or absence of, and pre-10
vent, certain cancers. 11
(b) C
RITERIA.—Services required to be provided 12
under subsection (a) shall meet, at a minimum, the fol-13
lowing criteria: 14
(1) B
REAST CANCER.—With respect to breast 15
cancer screening, if the firefighter is a female fire-16
fighter— 17
(A) such services shall include the provi-18
sion of a mammogram to the firefighter— 19
(i) if the firefighter is 40 years old to 20
49 years old (inclusive), not less frequently 21
than twice each year; 22
(ii) if the firefighter is 50 years old or 23
older, not less frequently than annually; 24
and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3
•S 2665 IS
(iii) as clinically indicated (without re-1
gard to age); and 2
(B) in connection with the provision of a 3
mammogram under subparagraph (A), a li-4
censed radiologist shall review the most recent 5
mammogram provided to the firefighter, as 6
compared to prior mammograms so provided, 7
and provide to the firefighter the results of such 8
review. 9
(2) C
OLON CANCER.—With respect to colon 10
cancer screening— 11
(A) if the firefighter is 40 years old or 12
older, or as clinically indicated without regard 13
to age, such services shall include the commu-14
nication to the firefighter of the risks and bene-15
fits of stool-based blood testing; 16
(B) if the firefighter is 45 years old or 17
older, or as clinically indicated without regard 18
to age, such services shall include the provision, 19
at regular intervals, of visual examinations 20
(such as a colonoscopy, CT colonoscopy, or 21
flexible sigmoidoscopy) or stool-based blood 22
testing; and 23
(C) in connection with the provision of a 24
visual examination or stool-based blood testing 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4
•S 2665 IS
under subparagraph (B), a licensed physician 1
shall review and provide to the firefighter the 2
results of such examination or testing, as the 3
case may be. 4
(3) P
ROSTATE CANCER.—With respect to pros-5
tate cancer screening, if the firefighter is a male 6
firefighter, such services shall include the commu-7
nication to the firefighter of the risks and benefits 8
of prostate cancer screenings and the provision to 9
the firefighter of a prostate-specific antigen test— 10
(A) not less frequently than annually if the 11
firefighter— 12
(i) is 50 years old or older; or 13
(ii) is 40 years old or older and is a 14
high-risk individual; and 15
(B) as clinically indicated (without regard 16
to age). 17
(4) O
THER CANCERS.—Such services shall in-18
clude routine screenings for any other cancer the 19
risk or occurrence of which the Director of the Cen-20
ters for Disease Control and Prevention has identi-21
fied as higher among firefighters than among the 22
general public, the provision of which shall be car-23
ried out during the annual periodic health assess-24
ment of the firefighter. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5
•S 2665 IS
(c) OPTIONALNATURE.—A firefighter of the Depart-1
ment of Defense may opt out of the receipt of medical 2
testing or a related service provided under subsection (a). 3
(d) U
SE OFCONSENSUSTECHNICALSTANDARDS.— 4
In providing medical testing and related services under 5
subsection (a), the Secretary shall use consensus technical 6
standards in accordance with section 12(d) of the National 7
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (Pub-8
lic Law 104–113; 15 U.S.C. 272 note). 9
(e) D
OCUMENTATION.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In providing medical testing 11
and related services under subsection (a), the Sec-12
retary— 13
(A) shall document the acceptance rates of 14
such tests offered and the rates of such tests 15
performed; 16
(B) shall document tests results to identify 17
trends in the rates of cancer occurrences among 18
firefighters; and 19
(C) may collect and maintain additional in-20
formation from the recipients of such tests and 21
other services to allow for appropriate scientific 22
analysis. 23
(2) P
RIVACY.—In analyzing any information of 24
an individual documented, collected, or maintained 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6
•S 2665 IS
under paragraph (1), in addition to complying with 1
other applicable privacy laws, the Secretary shall en-2
sure the name and any other personally identifiable 3
information of the individual is removed from such 4
information prior to the analysis. 5
(3) S
HARING WITH CENTERS FOR DISEASE 6
CONTROL AND PREVENTION .—The Secretary may 7
share data from any tests performed under sub-8
section (a) with the Director of the Centers for Dis-9
ease Control and Prevention, as appropriate, to in-10
crease the knowledge and understanding of cancer 11
occurrences among firefighters. 12
(f) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
(1) F
IREFIGHTER.—The term ‘‘firefighter’’ 14
means someone whose primary job or military occu-15
pational specialty is being a firefighter. 16
(2) H
IGH-RISK INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘high- 17
risk individual’’ means an individual who— 18
(A) is African American; 19
(B) has at least one first-degree relative 20
who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer at 21
an early age; or 22
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7
•S 2665 IS
(C) is otherwise determined by the Sec-1
retary to be high risk with respect to prostate 2
cancer. 3
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Aug 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2665.IS S2665
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS