icnmgrjill
07-29-2004, 03:16 PM
I received this from a colleague on the Bladder Coalition:
"Please consider contacting them (your representative) with your support on the newest bill, introduced Friday by U. S. Representative Nethercutt (R-Washington). It is H.R. 4979 and is entitled the Women’s Pelvic Floor Health Education and Awareness Act. .... It .....aims to create funding for education and to strengthen research programs for women’s pelvic floor disorders, including urinary incontinence. It already has the publicly expressed support from the National Association For Continence. "
Please visit: www.nafc.org to send your letter of support!
Here's the proposed act... Sorry about the funky spacing:
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
Mr. NETHERCUTT (for himself [see attached list of cosponsors]) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
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 Representa- 1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2
H.L.C.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Pelvic Floor 2
Health Education and Awareness Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4
The Congress finds as follows: 5
(1) Women’s pelvic floor disorders are a group 6
of common conditions that cause considerable dis- 7
ability and pain. 8
(2) Such disorders include bladder and bowel 9
dysfunction, including incontinence. Another such 10
disorder is pelvic organ prolapse, which involves a 11
downward shift of uterine or vaginal structures from 12
their normal positions. Often these conditions coex- 13
ist. 14
(3) Women’s pelvic floor disorders are ex- 15
tremely common and are barriers to healthy living. 16
(4) Women often suffer from a broad overlap of 17
all pelvic floor disorders, usually experiencing several 18
disorders simultaneously. 19
(5) Thirty percent of American women will suf- 20
fer from a form of urinary incontinence. 21
(6) Eleven percent of women in the United 22
States have surgery for urinary incontinence or pel- 23
vic organ prolapse during their lifetime, and close to 24
one third will have a second surgery. Many more 25
3
H.L.C.
women are treated with nonsurgical techniques or 1
remain untreated. 2
(7) Of the 3 million vaginal deliveries that 3
occur each year in the United States, 900,000 4
women will develop symptomatic urinary inconti- 5
nence and a smaller number will develop pelvic 6
organ prolapse and bowel incontinence. 7
(8) An estimated $26.3 billion is spent annually 8
to either treat or compensate for urinary inconti- 9
nence. 10
(9) Many health care providers are not pre- 11
pared to evaluate urinary pelvic floor disorders, in- 12
cluding incontinence, and are unaware of treatment 13
options. 14
(10) To address the public health threat posed 15
by women’s pelvic floor disorders, there is a need for 16
the establishment of awareness and education pro- 17
grams directed at the public and primary-care pro- 18
viders, including the authorization of research fo- 19
cused on urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor 20
disorders. Such programs will greatly help promote 21
better care and treatment to those women afflicted 22
with these disorders. 23
H.L.C.
SEC. 3. EDUCATION REGARDING WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR 1
DISORDERS. 2
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 8
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 9
Administration and the Director of the Centers for Dis- 10
ease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a program 11
to provide education regarding bladder and bowel dysfunc- 12
tion (including incontinence), pelvic organ prolapse, and 13
other pelvic floor disorders to health professionals and the 14
general public. Activities under such program shall be car- 15
ried out directly by the Secretary and through awards of 16
grants or contracts to States, political subdivisions of 17
States, and other public or nonprofit private entities. 18
5
H.L.C.
‘‘(c) USE OF INTERNET.—The Secretary shall ensure 1
that the means through which education under subsection 2
(a) is provided includes the posting of information on the 3
Internet site of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 4
vention. The Secretary shall ensure that, in the case of 5
health professionals, such means includes means in addi- 6
tion to the posting of information on such site. 7
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 8
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 9
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 10
each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009.’’. 11
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 12
Congress that the Director of the Centers for Disease 13
Control and Prevention should establish a national reg- 14
istry for surgical treatment of pelvic floor disorders, espe- 15
cially procedures using new technology. 16
SEC. 4. RESEARCH THROUGH NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 17
HEALTH. 18
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title IV of the Public 19
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended 20
by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘SEC. 409J. WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR DISORDERS. 22
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Directors of the National 23
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 24
and the National Institute of Child Health and Human 25
6
H.L.C.
Development shall expand and intensify the activities of 1
such Institutes with respect to women’s pelvic floor dis- 2
orders, including proposals for research on such disorders 3
that are developed independently of solicitations by the 4
National Institutes of Health for research proposals. 5
‘‘(b) NETWORKS.— 6
‘‘(1) URINARY INCONTINENCE TREATMENT 7
NETWORK.—The Director of the National Institute 8
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in 9
consultation with the Director of the National Insti- 10
tute of Child Health and Human Development, shall 11
provide for the continuing operation of the Urinary 12
Incontinence Treatment Network. The Network was 13
established pursuant to financial awards from such 14
Institutes, and includes multiple continence treat- 15
ment centers and a single biostatistical coordinating 16
committee. The Director shall ensure that not fewer 17
than eight such treatment centers are in operation 18
and may provide for the establishment of additional 19
treatment centers, subject to appropriations Acts. 20
‘‘(2) CLINICAL TRIALS NETWORK FOR FEMALE 21
PELVIC DISORDERS.—The Director of the National 22
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 23
in consultation with the Director of the National In- 24
stitute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Dis- 25
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 14
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Congress commends— 15
(A) the National Institute of Diabetes and 16
Digestive and Kidney Diseases for its financial 17
support of the Urinary Incontinence Treatment 18
Network; 19
(B) the National Institute of Child Health 20
and Human Development for its financial sup- 21
port of the Clinical Trials Network for Female 22
Pelvic Disorders; 23
(C) the successful collaboration of such In- 24
stitutes with respect to the Networks; and 25
8
H.L.C.
(D) each of such Networks for the re- 1
search it is conducting toward improving wom- 2
en’s pelvic health. 3
(2) CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—It is the sense of the 4
Congress that the Directors of the National Institute 5
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and 6
the National Institute of Child Health and Human 7
Development should— 8
(A) increase the size, scope, number, and 9
funding for multidisciplinary research through 10
centers and clinical sites of the Networks re- 11
ferred to in paragraph (1); 12
(B) encourage industry relationships in 13
women’s pelvic floor health related research; 14
(C) recruit established scientists from 15
other relevant areas (such as cardiac or gastro- 16
intestinal physiology, cell signaling, biomechan- 17
ical engineering, genomics, and proteomics) to 18
apply their work to the urinary tract and incon- 19
tinence by encouraging collaborative efforts be- 20
tween basic and clinical scientists; 21
(D) increase research funding for studies 22
that use cellular and molecular techniques to 23
examine the basic mechanisms of bladder and 24
9
H.L.C.
urethral interactions that create urinary con- 1
tinence and incontinence; 2
(E) support research to develop appro- 3
priate animal models of urinary incontinence; 4
(F) develop novel techniques (both invasive 5
and noninvasive) for measuring neural, mus- 6
cular (striated and smooth), and vascular func- 7
tion relating to pelvic floor health; 8
(G) identify risk factors for pelvic floor dis- 9
orders and urinary incontinence related to 10
childbirth and aging so that prevention meas- 11
ures and improved disease-specific treatment 12
can be developed; 13
(H) initiate research to develop preventive 14
and therapeutic approaches to urinary inconti- 15
nence that are sensitive to gender, race, and 16
culture, and develop the means of measuring 17
outcomes for treatments in these varied set- 18
tings; 19
(I) develop a national data registry and tis- 20
sue bank of people suffering from incontinence 21
to meet the needs of researchers for well-char- 22
acterized tissue samples; and 23
(J) research the relationship between the 24
anatomic changes of pelvic organ prolapse and 25
"Please consider contacting them (your representative) with your support on the newest bill, introduced Friday by U. S. Representative Nethercutt (R-Washington). It is H.R. 4979 and is entitled the Women’s Pelvic Floor Health Education and Awareness Act. .... It .....aims to create funding for education and to strengthen research programs for women’s pelvic floor disorders, including urinary incontinence. It already has the publicly expressed support from the National Association For Continence. "
Please visit: www.nafc.org to send your letter of support!
Here's the proposed act... Sorry about the funky spacing:
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
Mr. NETHERCUTT (for himself [see attached list of cosponsors]) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
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 Representa- 1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2
H.L.C.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Pelvic Floor 2
Health Education and Awareness Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4
The Congress finds as follows: 5
(1) Women’s pelvic floor disorders are a group 6
of common conditions that cause considerable dis- 7
ability and pain. 8
(2) Such disorders include bladder and bowel 9
dysfunction, including incontinence. Another such 10
disorder is pelvic organ prolapse, which involves a 11
downward shift of uterine or vaginal structures from 12
their normal positions. Often these conditions coex- 13
ist. 14
(3) Women’s pelvic floor disorders are ex- 15
tremely common and are barriers to healthy living. 16
(4) Women often suffer from a broad overlap of 17
all pelvic floor disorders, usually experiencing several 18
disorders simultaneously. 19
(5) Thirty percent of American women will suf- 20
fer from a form of urinary incontinence. 21
(6) Eleven percent of women in the United 22
States have surgery for urinary incontinence or pel- 23
vic organ prolapse during their lifetime, and close to 24
one third will have a second surgery. Many more 25
3
H.L.C.
women are treated with nonsurgical techniques or 1
remain untreated. 2
(7) Of the 3 million vaginal deliveries that 3
occur each year in the United States, 900,000 4
women will develop symptomatic urinary inconti- 5
nence and a smaller number will develop pelvic 6
organ prolapse and bowel incontinence. 7
(8) An estimated $26.3 billion is spent annually 8
to either treat or compensate for urinary inconti- 9
nence. 10
(9) Many health care providers are not pre- 11
pared to evaluate urinary pelvic floor disorders, in- 12
cluding incontinence, and are unaware of treatment 13
options. 14
(10) To address the public health threat posed 15
by women’s pelvic floor disorders, there is a need for 16
the establishment of awareness and education pro- 17
grams directed at the public and primary-care pro- 18
viders, including the authorization of research fo- 19
cused on urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor 20
disorders. Such programs will greatly help promote 21
better care and treatment to those women afflicted 22
with these disorders. 23
H.L.C.
SEC. 3. EDUCATION REGARDING WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR 1
DISORDERS. 2
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 8
the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 9
Administration and the Director of the Centers for Dis- 10
ease Control and Prevention, shall carry out a program 11
to provide education regarding bladder and bowel dysfunc- 12
tion (including incontinence), pelvic organ prolapse, and 13
other pelvic floor disorders to health professionals and the 14
general public. Activities under such program shall be car- 15
ried out directly by the Secretary and through awards of 16
grants or contracts to States, political subdivisions of 17
States, and other public or nonprofit private entities. 18
5
H.L.C.
‘‘(c) USE OF INTERNET.—The Secretary shall ensure 1
that the means through which education under subsection 2
(a) is provided includes the posting of information on the 3
Internet site of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 4
vention. The Secretary shall ensure that, in the case of 5
health professionals, such means includes means in addi- 6
tion to the posting of information on such site. 7
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 8
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 9
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 10
each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009.’’. 11
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the 12
Congress that the Director of the Centers for Disease 13
Control and Prevention should establish a national reg- 14
istry for surgical treatment of pelvic floor disorders, espe- 15
cially procedures using new technology. 16
SEC. 4. RESEARCH THROUGH NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF 17
HEALTH. 18
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title IV of the Public 19
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended 20
by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘SEC. 409J. WOMEN’S PELVIC FLOOR DISORDERS. 22
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Directors of the National 23
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 24
and the National Institute of Child Health and Human 25
6
H.L.C.
Development shall expand and intensify the activities of 1
such Institutes with respect to women’s pelvic floor dis- 2
orders, including proposals for research on such disorders 3
that are developed independently of solicitations by the 4
National Institutes of Health for research proposals. 5
‘‘(b) NETWORKS.— 6
‘‘(1) URINARY INCONTINENCE TREATMENT 7
NETWORK.—The Director of the National Institute 8
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in 9
consultation with the Director of the National Insti- 10
tute of Child Health and Human Development, shall 11
provide for the continuing operation of the Urinary 12
Incontinence Treatment Network. The Network was 13
established pursuant to financial awards from such 14
Institutes, and includes multiple continence treat- 15
ment centers and a single biostatistical coordinating 16
committee. The Director shall ensure that not fewer 17
than eight such treatment centers are in operation 18
and may provide for the establishment of additional 19
treatment centers, subject to appropriations Acts. 20
‘‘(2) CLINICAL TRIALS NETWORK FOR FEMALE 21
PELVIC DISORDERS.—The Director of the National 22
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 23
in consultation with the Director of the National In- 24
stitute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Dis- 25
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 14
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Congress commends— 15
(A) the National Institute of Diabetes and 16
Digestive and Kidney Diseases for its financial 17
support of the Urinary Incontinence Treatment 18
Network; 19
(B) the National Institute of Child Health 20
and Human Development for its financial sup- 21
port of the Clinical Trials Network for Female 22
Pelvic Disorders; 23
(C) the successful collaboration of such In- 24
stitutes with respect to the Networks; and 25
8
H.L.C.
(D) each of such Networks for the re- 1
search it is conducting toward improving wom- 2
en’s pelvic health. 3
(2) CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—It is the sense of the 4
Congress that the Directors of the National Institute 5
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and 6
the National Institute of Child Health and Human 7
Development should— 8
(A) increase the size, scope, number, and 9
funding for multidisciplinary research through 10
centers and clinical sites of the Networks re- 11
ferred to in paragraph (1); 12
(B) encourage industry relationships in 13
women’s pelvic floor health related research; 14
(C) recruit established scientists from 15
other relevant areas (such as cardiac or gastro- 16
intestinal physiology, cell signaling, biomechan- 17
ical engineering, genomics, and proteomics) to 18
apply their work to the urinary tract and incon- 19
tinence by encouraging collaborative efforts be- 20
tween basic and clinical scientists; 21
(D) increase research funding for studies 22
that use cellular and molecular techniques to 23
examine the basic mechanisms of bladder and 24
9
H.L.C.
urethral interactions that create urinary con- 1
tinence and incontinence; 2
(E) support research to develop appro- 3
priate animal models of urinary incontinence; 4
(F) develop novel techniques (both invasive 5
and noninvasive) for measuring neural, mus- 6
cular (striated and smooth), and vascular func- 7
tion relating to pelvic floor health; 8
(G) identify risk factors for pelvic floor dis- 9
orders and urinary incontinence related to 10
childbirth and aging so that prevention meas- 11
ures and improved disease-specific treatment 12
can be developed; 13
(H) initiate research to develop preventive 14
and therapeutic approaches to urinary inconti- 15
nence that are sensitive to gender, race, and 16
culture, and develop the means of measuring 17
outcomes for treatments in these varied set- 18
tings; 19
(I) develop a national data registry and tis- 20
sue bank of people suffering from incontinence 21
to meet the needs of researchers for well-char- 22
acterized tissue samples; and 23
(J) research the relationship between the 24
anatomic changes of pelvic organ prolapse and 25