Women's Pelvic Floor Health Education and Awareness Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to educate health professionals and the public on bladder and bowel dysfunction (including incontinence), pelvic organ prolapse, and other pelvic floor disorders.
Expresses the sense of Congress that the Director should establish a national registry for surgical treatment of such disorders.
Requires the Directors of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to: (1) expand and intensify the activities of such Institutes with respect to women's pelvic floor disorders, including developing proposals for research on such disorders; and (2) provide for the continuing operation of the Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network and the Clinical Trials Network for Female Pelvic Disorders. Commends such Institutes for their support of such Networks and such Networks for their research toward improving women's pelvic health.
Expresses the sense of Congress as to efforts that such Institutes should undertake, including increasing their research, recruiting established scientists, and developing a national data registry and tissue bank of people suffering from incontinence.
[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4979 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4979
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for educational
activities and research with respect to women's pelvic floor health
through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National
Institutes of Health.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 22, 2004
Mr. Nethercutt (for himself, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Gerlach, Mr.
Sessions, and Mr. Vitter) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for educational
activities and research with respect to women's pelvic floor health
through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National
Institutes of Health.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Women's Pelvic Floor Health
Education and Awareness Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Women's pelvic floor disorders are a group of common
conditions that cause considerable disability and pain.
(2) Such disorders include bladder and bowel dysfunction,
including incontinence. Another such disorder is pelvic organ
prolapse, which involves a downward shift of uterine or vaginal
structures from their normal positions. Often these conditions
coexist.
(3) Women's pelvic floor disorders are extremely common and
are barriers to healthy living.
(4) Women often suffer from a broad overlap of all pelvic
floor disorders, usually experiencing several disorders
simultaneously.
(5) Thirty percent of American women will suffer from a
form of urinary incontinence.
(6) Eleven percent of women in the United States have
surgery for urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse
during their lifetime, and close to one third will have a
second surgery. Many more women are treated with nonsurgical
techniques or remain untreated.
(7) Of the 3 million vaginal deliveries that occur each
year in the United States, 900,000 women will develop
symptomatic urinary incontinence and a smaller number will
develop pelvic organ prolapse and bowel incontinence.
(8) An estimated $26.3 billion is spent annually to either
treat or compensate for urinary incontinence.
(9) Many health care providers are not prepared to evaluate
urinary pelvic floor disorders, including incontinence, and are
unaware of treatment options.
(10) To address the public health threat posed by women's
pelvic floor disorders, there is a need for the establishment
of awareness and education programs directed at the public and
primary-care providers, including the authorization of research
focused on urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor
disorders. Such programs will greatly help promote better care
and treatment to those women afflicted with these disorders.
SEC. 3. EDUCATION REGARDING WOMEN'S PELVIC FLOOR DISORDERS.
(a) In General.--Part P of title III of the Public Health Service
Act (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following section:
``SEC. 399O. EDUCATION REGARDING WOMEN'S PELVIC FLOOR DISORDERS.
``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Administrator
of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a
program to provide education regarding bladder and bowel dysfunction
(including incontinence), pelvic organ prolapse, and other pelvic floor
disorders to health professionals and the general public. Activities
under such program shall be carried out directly by the Secretary and
through awards of grants or contracts to States, political subdivisions
of States, and other public or nonprofit private entities.
``(b) Certain Information.--The Secretary shall ensure that
education under subsection (a) includes, at a minimum--
``(1) information describing the prevalence of pelvic floor
disorders in women; and
``(2) information regarding treatment options for such
disorders.
``(c) Use of Internet.--The Secretary shall ensure that the means
through which education under subsection (a) is provided includes the
posting of information on the Internet site of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The Secretary shall ensure that, in the case of
health professionals, such means includes means in addition to the
posting of information on such site.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as
may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009.''.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that the
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should
establish a national registry for surgical treatment of pelvic floor
disorders, especially procedures using new technology.
SEC. 4. RESEARCH THROUGH NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH.
(a) In General.--Part B of title IV of the Public Health Service
Act (42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 409J. WOMEN'S PELVIC FLOOR DISORDERS.
``(a) In General.--The Directors of the National Institute of
Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development shall expand and intensify the
activities of such Institutes with respect to women's pelvic floor
disorders, including proposals for research on such disorders that are
developed independently of solicitations by the National Institutes of
Health for research proposals.
``(b) Networks.--
``(1) Urinary incontinence treatment network.--The Director
of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases, in consultation with the Director of the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, shall provide
for the continuing operation of the Urinary Incontinence
Treatment Network. The Network was established pursuant to
financial awards from such Institutes, and includes multiple
continence treatment centers and a single biostatistical
coordinating committee. The Director shall ensure that not
fewer than eight such treatment centers are in operation and
may provide for the establishment of additional treatment
centers, subject to appropriations Acts.
``(2) Clinical trials network for female pelvic
disorders.--The Director of the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development, in consultation with the Director
of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases, shall provide for the continuing operation of the
Clinical Trials Network for Female Pelvic Disorders. The
Network was established pursuant to financial awards from such
Institutes, and includes multiple clinical sites and a single
data coordinating committee. The Director shall ensure that not
fewer than seven such clinical sites are in operation and may
provide for the establishment of additional clinical sites,
subject to appropriations Acts.
``(c) Peer Review.--With respect to technical and scientific peer
review under section 492, the Director of NIH shall ensure that groups
that review research proposals under this section include
urogynecologists. ''.
(b) Sense of Congress.--
(1) In general.--The Congress commends--
(A) the National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases for its financial support
of the Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network;
(B) the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development for its financial support of the
Clinical Trials Network for Female Pelvic Disorders;
(C) the successful collaboration of such Institutes
with respect to the Networks; and
(D) each of such Networks for the research it is
conducting toward improving women's pelvic health.
(2) Certain activities.--It is the sense of the Congress
that the Directors of the National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development should--
(A) increase the size, scope, number, and funding
for multidisciplinary research through centers and
clinical sites of the Networks referred to in paragraph
(1);
(B) encourage industry relationships in women's
pelvic floor health related research;
(C) recruit established scientists from other
relevant areas (such as cardiac or gastrointestinal
physiology, cell signaling, biomechanical engineering,
genomics, and proteomics) to apply their work to the
urinary tract and incontinence by encouraging
collaborative efforts between basic and clinical
scientists;
(D) increase research funding for studies that use
cellular and molecular techniques to examine the basic
mechanisms of bladder and urethral interactions that
create urinary continence and incontinence;
(E) support research to develop appropriate animal
models of urinary incontinence;
(F) develop novel techniques (both invasive and
noninvasive) for measuring neural, muscular (striated
and smooth), and vascular function relating to pelvic
floor health;
(G) identify risk factors for pelvic floor
disorders and urinary incontinence related to
childbirth and aging so that prevention measures and
improved disease-specific treatment can be developed;
(H) initiate research to develop preventive and
therapeutic approaches to urinary incontinence that are
sensitive to gender, race, and culture, and develop the
means of measuring outcomes for treatments in these
varied settings;
(I) develop a national data registry and tissue
bank of people suffering from incontinence to meet the
needs of researchers for well-characterized tissue
samples; and
(J) research the relationship between the anatomic
changes of pelvic organ prolapse and the functional
derangement's commonly seen in association with them,
including voiding dysfunction and incontinence.
SEC. 5. INCLUSION OF WOMEN'S PELVIC FLOOR HEALTH IN NATIONAL CHILDREN'S
STUDY.
The Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development shall include women's pelvic floor health as one of the
matters studied in the prospective cohort study regarding child health
and human development that is being conducted under section 1004(b) of
the Children's Health Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-310; 114 Stat. 1130)
and is known as the National Children's Study.
SEC. 6. CONSULTATION.
In carrying out this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall consult with the American Urogynecologic Society and
such other qualified professional and patient organizations as the
Secretary determines to be appropriate.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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