II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 403
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish an
Office of Rural Health, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY5, 2025
Mrs. H
YDE-SMITH(for herself and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to
establish an Office of Rural Health, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Rural Health Focus 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. CDC OFFICE OF RURAL HEALTH. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 7
Human Services, acting through the Director of the Cen-8
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, shall establish 9
within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S403.IS S403
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 403 IS
office to be known as the Office of Rural Health, to be 1
headed by a director selected by the Director of the Cen-2
ters for Disease Control and Prevention. 3
(b) D
UTIES ANDAUTHORITIES.—The duties and au-4
thorities of the Director of the Office of Rural Health shall 5
be limited to the following: 6
(1) Serving as the primary point of contact in 7
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on 8
matters pertaining to rural health. 9
(2) Assisting the Director of the Centers for 10
Disease Control and Prevention in conducting, co-11
ordinating, and promoting research regarding public 12
health issues affecting rural populations, and in dis-13
seminating the results of such research. 14
(3) Working with all personnel and offices of 15
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 16
develop, refine, coordinate, and promulgate policies, 17
best practices, lessons learned, and innovative, suc-18
cessful programs to improve care and services (in-19
cluding through telehealth) for rural populations. 20
(4) Coordinating and supporting rural health 21
research, conducting and supporting educational out-22
reach, and disseminating evidence-based interven-23
tions related to health outcomes, access to health 24
care, and lifestyle challenges, to prevent death, dis-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S403.IS S403
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 403 IS
ease, injury, and disability, and promote healthy be-1
haviors in rural populations. 2
(5) Improving the understanding of the health 3
challenges faced by rural populations. 4
(6) Identifying disparities in the availability of 5
health care and public health interventions for rural 6
populations. 7
(7) Awarding and administering grants, cooper-8
ative agreements, and contracts to provide technical 9
assistance and other activities as necessary to sup-10
port activities related to improving health and health 11
care in rural areas. 12
(8) Coordinating with the Federal Office of 13
Rural Health Policy of the Health Resources and 14
Services Administration, as needed, to facilitate co-15
operation on rural health initiatives and avoid dupli-16
cation of efforts. 17
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S403.IS S403
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB