Sec. 6. Interagency Council on Improving Diagnosis in Health Care
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The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the Secretary ) shall establish within the Office of the Secretary an interagency council to be known as the Interagency Council on Improving Diagnosis in Health Care (referred to in this section as the Council ). The objectives of the Council shall be the following: Enhance the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of diagnosis in health care through— the establishment and support of a broad base of scientific research; the dissemination and implementation of the results of such research; and the promotion of improvements in clinical and health system practices.
Identify and eliminate systemic barriers to supporting research in improving diagnosis in health care. Identify knowledge gaps, research and data needs, and opportunities congruent with agency missions to strengthen the clinical and translational research pipeline to improve diagnostic safety and quality, including potential collaborative research initiatives among 2 or more agencies, offices, institutes, or centers within the Department of Health and Human Services or other Federal agencies or offices.
The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (or the Director’s designee) shall be the Chairperson of the Council. In addition to the Chairperson, the Council shall be comprised of the following: At least 1 designee from each of the following, appointed by the head of the applicable department or agency: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Department of Veterans Affairs. The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program of the Department of Defense.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Designees from the National Institutes of Health, including a least 1 designee from each of the following: The National Cancer Institute. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The National Library of Medicine. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
The National Institute of Nursing Research. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Designees from such other national research institutes and national centers as may be appropriate, as determined by the Director of the National Institutes of Health. In addition to the designees under subparagraph (A), the Council may include such other designees from Federal departments or agencies as the Chairperson of the Council deems appropriate.
A person appointed to the Council as a designee shall be a senior official or employee of the department or agency whose responsibilities and subject matter expertise are relevant to the Council’s objectives listed in subsection (b), as determined by the designating official. Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Council shall develop, submit to the Secretary and Congress, and make publicly available a strategic plan, to be known as the Strategic Federal Plan to Improve Diagnosis, that, consistent with the objectives listed in subsection (b)— identifies coordinated opportunities to enhance scientific research and reduce systemic barriers in order to improve diagnosis in health care; and includes legislative and administrative policy recommendations, including opportunities to remove barriers to, and enhance, inter-agency coordination in the planning, conduct, and funding of, such research.
Not later than July 31 of every odd-numbered year beginning with the first such year after the date of submission of the first Strategic Federal Plan to Improve Diagnosis under paragraph (1), the Council shall prepare, submit to the Secretary and Congress, and make publicly available an updated Strategic Federal Plan to Improve Diagnosis that includes— such updates as the Council determines to be appropriate; information on the overall progress of the Federal Government in reducing barriers to research on, and supporting projects to improve, diagnosis in health care; and legislative and administrative policy recommendations, including addressing any needs for greater legislative authority to meet the objectives listed in subsection (b).
To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.