Wakefield Act of 2014

Wakefield Act of 2014 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program through FY2019.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4290 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4290

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the Emergency 
                 Medical Services for Children Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 2014

  Mr. Matheson (for himself and Mr. King of New York) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the Emergency 
                 Medical Services for Children Program.

    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 ``Wakefield Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) There are approximately 26,000,000 child and adolescent 
        visits to the Nation's emergency departments every year.
            (2) Approximately 90 percent of children requiring 
        emergency care are seen in general hospitals, not in free 
        standing children's hospitals, with one-quarter to one-third of 
        the patients being seen in hospitals with no separate pediatric 
        ward.
            (3) Injury and poisoning combined are the most common 
        reason for pediatric emergency department visits, accounting 
        for nearly thirty percent of such visits, while respiratory 
        disorders such as asthma account for another 26 percent of 
        pediatric emergency department visits.
            (4) Up to one-quarter of children needing emergency care 
        have special health care needs due to underlying medical 
        conditions such as asthma, diabetes, sickle-cell disease, low 
        birth weight, and Broncho pulmonary dysplasia.
            (5) The Emergency Medical Services for Children Program 
        under section 1910 of the Public Health Service Act is the only 
        Federal program that focuses specifically on improving the 
        pediatric components of the emergency medical services (EMS) 
        system.
            (6) The Emergency Medical Services for Children Program 
        has, in the past and present, funded and supported pediatric 
        emergency care improvement initiatives in every State and 
        United States Territory to expand and improve emergency care 
        for children who need treatment for life threatening illnesses 
        and injuries by--
                    (A) completing the only national assessment of 
                pediatric pre-hospital emergency care in the Nation;
                    (B) assessing the access to medical direction for 
                emergency medical services providers treating and 
                transporting pediatric patients, appropriate pediatric 
                equipment and supplies on ambulances to treat children, 
                and availability of inter-facility transfer agreements 
                and guidelines designed to expedite the transfer of 
                pediatric patients to the most appropriate facility;
                    (C) assuring that Basic and Advance Life Support 
                providers receive pediatric education to maintain 
                competencies necessary to treat pediatric patients; and
                    (D) addressing regionalization of care and 
                telemedicine that allow for timely transfers or care 
                delivery to critically ill or injured children in rural 
                or tribal settings where specialty care is not readily 
                available.
            (7) The Emergency Medical Services for Children Program is 
        celebrating its 30th anniversary, marking three decades of 
        driving key improvements in emergency medical services to 
        children, and should continue its mission to reduce child and 
        youth morbidity and mortality by supporting improvements in the 
        quality of all emergency medical and emergency surgical care 
        children receive.

SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN 
              PROGRAM.

    Section 1910(d) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300w-
9(d)) is amended by striking ``fiscal year 2014'' and inserting ``each 
of fiscal years 2014 through 2019''.
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