8. ALLIED HEALTH PERSONNEL: STUDIES AND STATISTICAL REPORT ON ALLIED HEALTH PERSONNEL

Section 702 Of The Health Professions Educational Assistance

Act Of 1976

(Public Law 94-484)

Studies And Statistical Report On Allied Health Personnel

Sec. 702. (a) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare shall conduct and complete, not later than two years after the date of enactment of this Act, studies—

(1) to identify the various types of allied health personnel and the activities in which such personnel are engaged and the various training programs currently offered for allied health personnel;

(2) to establish classifications of allied health personnel on the basis of their activities, responsibilities, and training;

(3) using appropriate methodologies, to determine the cost of educating and training allied health personnel in each such classification; and

(4) to identify the classifications in which there are a critical shortage of such personnel and the training programs which should be assisted to meet that shortage.

(b) In addition, the Secretary shall, in coordination with the National Center for Health Statistics (established under section 306 of the Public Health Service Act), develop, publish, and disseminate on a nationwide basis a report containing statistics and other information respecting allied health personnel, including—

(1) detailed descriptions of the various types of such personnel and the activities in which such personnel are engaged,

(2) the current and anticipated needs for the various types of such health personnel, and

(3) the number, employment, geographic locations, salaries, and surpluses and shortages of such personnel.

(c)(1) The Secretary and each program entity shall in securing and maintaining any record of individually identifiable personal data (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as "personal data") for purposes of this section—

(A) inform any individual who is asked to supply personal data whether he is legally required, or may refuse, to supply such data and inform him of any specific consequences known to the Secretary or program entity, as the case may be, of providing or not providing such data;

(B) upon request, inform any individual if he is the subject of personal data secured or maintained by the Secretary or program entity, as the case may be, and make the data available to him in a form comprehensible to him;

(C) assure that no use is made of personal data which is not within the purposes of this section unless an informed consent has been obtained from the individual who is the subject of such data; and

(D) upon request, inform any individual of the use being made of personal data respecting such individual and of the identity of the individuals and entities which will use the data and their relationship to the studies made or information collected under this section.

(2) Any entity which maintains a record of personal data and which receives a request from the Secretary or a program entity for data for purposes of this section shall not transfer any such data to the Secretary or to a program entity unless the individual whose personal data is to be so transferred gives an informed consent for such transfer.

(3) (A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, personal data collected by the Secretary or any program entity for purposes of this section may not be made available or disclosed by the Secretary or any program entity to any person other than the individual who is the subject of such data unless (i) such person requires such data for purposes of this section, or (ii) in response to a demand for such data made by means of compulsory legal process. Any individual who is the subject of personal data made available or disclosed under clause (ii) shall be notified of the demand for such data.

(B) Subject to all applicable laws regarding confidentially, only the data collected by the Secretary under this section which is not personal data shall be made available to bona fide researchers and policy analysts (including the Congress) for the purposes of assisting in the conduct of studies respecting health professions personnel.

(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term "program entity" means any public or private entity which collects, compiles, or analyzes health professions data under an arrangement with the Secretary for purposes of this section.

(d) The Secretary shall submit, not later than two years after the date of enactment of this Act, to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare of the Senate—

(1) a report on the results of the studies conducted under subsection (a);

(2) the report developed under subsection (b); and

(3) a report on, including an evaluation of, activities conducted under subpart II of part G of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (relating to allied health personnel).

The report described in paragraph (3) shall contain such recommendations for legislation as the Secretary determines are needed to improve the programs authorized under such subpart. The Office of Management and Budget may review such report before its submission to such Committees, but the Office may not revise the report or delay its submission beyond the date prescribed for its submission and may submit to such Committees its comments respecting such report.

(e) For the purposes of this section, the term "allied health personnel" means individuals with training and responsibilities for (1) supporting, complementing, or supplementing the professional functions of physicians, dentists, and other health professionals in the delivery of health care to patients, or (2) assisting environmental engineers and other personnel in environmental health control and preventive medicine activities.

Legislative History

House Reports: No. 94-266 (Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce) and No. 94-1612 (Committee of Conference).

Senate Reports: No. 94-886 (Committee on Labor and Public Welfare) and No. 94-887 accompanying S. 3239 (Committee on Labor and Public Welfare). Congressional Record:

Vol. 121 (1975): July 11, considered and passed House.
Vol. 122 (1976):

July 1, considered and passed Senate, amended.
Sept. 20, Senate agreed to conference report.

Sept. 27, House receded and concurred in Senate amendment with amendment.

Sept. 30, Senate agreed to House amendment.

9. ARTHRITIS: NATIONAL ARTHRITIS ACT OF 1974

(Public Law 93-640)

FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE

Sec. 2. (a) The Congress makes the following findings—

(1) Arthritis and related musculoskeletal diseases constitute major health problems in the United States in that they afflict more than twenty million Americans and are the greatest single cause of chronic pain and disability.

(2) The complications of arthritis lead to many other serious health problems and other severe physical disabilities in persons of all ages with the disease, particularly children and adolescents.

(3) The annual cost of arthritis to the national economy in 1970, from medical care expenses and lost wages, was $9,200,000000, including $2,500,000,000 in medical expenses, and number of workdays lost in that year totaled over 14,500,000.

(4) Uncontrolled arthritis significantly decreases the quality of life and has a major negative economic, social, and psychological impact on the families of its victims and society generally.

(5) Athletic and other types of joint injuries involving trauma can lead to arthritis.

(6) The development of advanced methods of diagnosis and treatment of arthritis and quality trained health professionals in arthritis deserves the highest national priority.

(7) There is a critical shortage of medical facilities and properly trained health professionals and allied health professionals in the United States for arthritis research, prevention, treatment, care, and rehabilitation programs.

(8) The citizens of the United States should have a full understanding of the nature of the human, social, and economic impact of arthritis and should be encouraged to seek early diagnosis and treatment to prevent or mitigate physical disability resulting from arthritis.

(9) There is great potential for making major advances against arthritis in the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases, in concert with other institutes of the National Institutes of Health.

(b) It is therefore the purpose of this Act to provide for— (1) the formulation of a long-range plan—

(A) to expand and coordinate the national research, treatment, and control effort against arthritis;

(B) to advance educational activities for patients, professional and allied health personnel, and the public which will alert the citizens of the United States to the early indications of arthritis; and

(C) to emphasize the significance of early detection and proper control of these diseases and of the complications which may evolve from them;

(2) the establishment and support of programs to develop new and improved methods of arthritis screening, detection, prevention, and referral;

(3) the establishment of a central arthritis screening and detection data bank; and

(4) the development, modernization, and operation of centers for arthritis screening, detection, diagnosis, prevention, control, treatment, education, rehabilitation, and research and training programs.

NATIONAL COMMISSION ON ARTHRITIS; ARTHRITIS PLAN

Sec. 3. (a) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "Secretary"), after consulting with the Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall, within sixty days of the date of the enactment of this section, establish a National Commission on Arthritis and Related Musculoskeletal Diseases (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "Commission").

(b) The Commission shall be composed of eighteen members as follows:

(1) Six members appointed by the Secretary who are scientists, physicians, or other health professionals not in the employment of the Federal Government, who represent the various specialties and disciplines involving arthritis and related musculoskeletal diseases (hereinafter in this section collectively referred to as "arthritis"), and of whom at least two are practicing clinical rheumatologists, at least one is an orthopedic surgeon, and at least one is an allied health professional.

(2) Four members appointed by the Secretary from the general public, of whom at least two suffer from arthritis.

(3) One member appointed by the Secretary, from members of the National Arthritis, Metabolism, Digestive Disease Advisory Council, whose primary interest is in the field of rheumatology.

(4) The Director of the National Institutes of Health or his designee, the Director of the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases or his designee, the Directors, or their designees, of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of General Medical Science, the Associate Director for Arthritis and Related Musculoskeletal Disease of such Institute, and the Chief Medical Director of the Veteransi Administration and the Secretary of Defense or their designees, each of whom shall serve as ex-officio, nonvoting members.

(c) The members of the Commission shall select a chairman from among their own number. The Commission shall first meet on a date specified by the Secretary, not later than 30 days after the Commission is established, and thereafter shall meet at the call of the Chairman of the Commission (but not less often than three times).

(d) The Director of the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases shall—

(1) designate a member of the staff of such Institute to act as Executive Secretarv of the Commission, and

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