| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 403 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish an |
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| 6 | 6 | | Office of Rural Health, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | FEBRUARY5, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mrs. H |
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| 10 | 10 | | YDE-SMITH(for herself and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following |
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| 11 | 11 | | bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- |
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| 12 | 12 | | cation, Labor, and Pensions |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to |
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| 15 | 15 | | establish an Office of Rural Health, and for other purposes. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rural Health Focus 4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | Act’’. 5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEC. 2. CDC OFFICE OF RURAL HEALTH. 6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | (a) I |
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| 23 | 23 | | NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Human Services, acting through the Director of the Cen-8 |
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| 25 | 25 | | ters for Disease Control and Prevention, shall establish 9 |
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| 26 | 26 | | within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an 10 |
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| 27 | 27 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S403.IS S403 |
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| 28 | 28 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •S 403 IS |
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| 30 | 30 | | office to be known as the Office of Rural Health, to be 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | headed by a director selected by the Director of the Cen-2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | ters for Disease Control and Prevention. 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (b) D |
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| 34 | 34 | | UTIES ANDAUTHORITIES.—The duties and au-4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | thorities of the Director of the Office of Rural Health shall 5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | be limited to the following: 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (1) Serving as the primary point of contact in 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | matters pertaining to rural health. 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (2) Assisting the Director of the Centers for 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | Disease Control and Prevention in conducting, co-11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | ordinating, and promoting research regarding public 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | health issues affecting rural populations, and in dis-13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | seminating the results of such research. 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (3) Working with all personnel and offices of 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | develop, refine, coordinate, and promulgate policies, 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | best practices, lessons learned, and innovative, suc-18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | cessful programs to improve care and services (in-19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | cluding through telehealth) for rural populations. 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (4) Coordinating and supporting rural health 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | research, conducting and supporting educational out-22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | reach, and disseminating evidence-based interven-23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | tions related to health outcomes, access to health 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | care, and lifestyle challenges, to prevent death, dis-25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S403.IS S403 |
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| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •S 403 IS |
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| 59 | 59 | | ease, injury, and disability, and promote healthy be-1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | haviors in rural populations. 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | (5) Improving the understanding of the health 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | challenges faced by rural populations. 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (6) Identifying disparities in the availability of 5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | health care and public health interventions for rural 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | populations. 7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (7) Awarding and administering grants, cooper-8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ative agreements, and contracts to provide technical 9 |
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| 68 | 68 | | assistance and other activities as necessary to sup-10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | port activities related to improving health and health 11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | care in rural areas. 12 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (8) Coordinating with the Federal Office of 13 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Rural Health Policy of the Health Resources and 14 |
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| 73 | 73 | | Services Administration, as needed, to facilitate co-15 |
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| 74 | 74 | | operation on rural health initiatives and avoid dupli-16 |
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| 75 | 75 | | cation of efforts. 17 |
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| 76 | 76 | | Æ |
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| 77 | 77 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 04, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S403.IS S403 |
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| 78 | 78 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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