The Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA), has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 10:15 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled, “Examining Public Health Legislation to Help Patients and Local Communities."
Subcommittee members will review a series of bipartisan bills to strengthen public health, including legislation that has previously garnered strong support in the House. The bills that will be reviewed are:
* The Ensuring Patient Access to Effective Drug Enforcement Act, authored by full committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Reps. Tom Marino (R-PA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Judy Chu (D-CA). This bill would improve enforcement efforts regarding prescription drug diversion and abuse. This bill was approved by the full House in July of 2014.
* The Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act, authored in the previous Congress by Subcommittee Chairman Pitts and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), now Ranking Member of the full committee. This bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act to improve the efficiency, transparency, and consistency of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s process for scheduling new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
* The Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act, authored by Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Lois Capps (D-CA). This bill would provide demonstration grants to states with a shortage of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to streamline state-licensing requirements for military veteran EMTs to prevent unnecessary duplication in training. This bill was approved by the full House in February 2013.
* The Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care Reauthorization Act, authored by Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX) and Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Gene Green (D-TX). This bill would reauthorize Trauma Care Systems Planning Grants, which support state and rural development of trauma systems. It would also reauthorize pilot projects to implement and assess regionalized emergency care models. This bill was approved by through the full House in June 2014.
* A bill to reauthorize language from the Public Health Service Act to fund trauma care centers. This funding is set to expire in Fiscal Year 2015.
* The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting (NASPER) Reauthorization Act. This bill, authored by Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), would reauthorize the NASPER program to support state prescription drug monitoring programs.as they are posted.
