Comparison between Classification Act pay rates and prevailing rates for selected positions in various localities-Continued 80TH CONGRESS 2d Session SENATE { REPORT No. 1578 AMENDING THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT TO PERMIT CERTAIN EXPENDITURES JUNE 9 (legislative day, JUNE 1948.-Ordered to be printed Mr. TAFT, from the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4114) The Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4114) to amend the Public Health Service Act to permit certain expenditures, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that it do pass. PURPOSE OF THE BILL The sole purpose of the bill is to incorporate into the Public Health Service Act, which is the basic law governing the Public Health Service, the authority of the Service to expend funds for certain specified purposes which have heretofore been authorized annually in the appropriations for the Public Health Service. It would not increase the present authority of the Public Health Service; nor would it increase the current expenditures of the Public Health Service. EXPLANATION OF THE BILL BY SECTIONS The purpose of section 1 of the bill, which amends section 301 (d) of the Public Health Service Act, is to continue in basic legislation the authority of the Public Health Service to purchase and distribute penicillin and other antibiotic compounds for use in research projects for which grants-in-aid are made pursuant to section 301 (d) of the Public Health Service Act. There are several sound reasons for continuing this authority, which is now and has been contained in the appropriation acts. One is the substantial saving of funds which results in many cases from the central purchase of antibiotic compounds used in the various research projects. It is frequently possible for the Public Health Service to purchase the compounds for as little as one-half of the amount it would have to expend for the same purpose in the form of grant-in-aid if the compounds had to be purchased separately for each individual research project or experiment. Another reason is the desirability of conducting the diverse research experiments and projects with a compound of uniform consistency, quality, and quantity so as to assure accuracy in evaluating results. A third reason is the comparative difficulty which individual recipients of the research grants experience in attempting to purchase the less readily available compounds. Section 2 (a) of the bill amends paragraph (a) of section 321 of the Public Health Service Act so as to continue the Public Health Service's authority to furnish tobacco to patients being treated by it. Frequently the furnishing of tobacco serves as an effective adjunct to the medical treatment offered by the Service, and in many instances the patients are unable to pay for it out of their own funds. This paragraph would also be amended to permit minor repairs to and maintenance of buildings by the Public Health Service. This is now authorized by appropriation language. Section 2 (b) of the bill amends paragraph (d) of section 321 of the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Service to continue to pay either the reasonable burial expenses for, or the cost of preparing and transporting the remains of, any patient who dies in a Public Health Service hospital. In almost every case relatives will claim the body of a deceased patient and take care of the burial expenses if the Government will bear the cost of shipment from the hospital to the place of burial. This will ordinarily result in a saving to the Government since the cost of shipment is generally less than the cost of burial. Further saving to the Government is assured by restricting the Surgeon General's authority under this provision to cases in which other public or private funds are not available for the purpose. Section 3 amends section 322 (e) of the Public Health Service Act. This amendment would permit the Service to provide for the care and treatment of individuals, detained in accordance with the quarantine laws or by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in public or private facilities when the facilities of the Public Health Service are unavailable. These expenditures have been authorized in the appropriations because the care of persons who are detained by the Federal Government was felt to be a responsibility of that Government. Section 4 amends section 331 of the Public Health Service Act so as to authorize the payment of transportation expenses to their homes of indigent leper patients treated by the Public Health Service. Under that act the Service is now authorized to transport the leper patients to the National Leper Home at Carville, La. It seems desirable to continue the authority heretofore carried in appropriation acts to pay, in the case of an indigent patient, for the return trip from the leper home to the patient's own home upon his recovery. Section 5 amends section 344 (b) of the Public Health Service Act so as to permit the Service to continue to provide transportation, to any place in the continental United States, for narcotic addicts who have been admitted at their own request to a hospital of the Service and who have been discharged therefrom as cured. Return of these cured addicts to their homes or other places where they may obtain employment and otherwise resume their places in society is frequently essential to deter a resumption of the narcotic addiction. The amendment assures that payment by the Government will be made only where the addict cannot himself pay for the transportation. Section 6 amends section 504 of the Public Health Service Act so as to permit the Service to pay for the court costs and other expenses of the Service incident to commitment of its patients to mental hospitals. These commitment proceedings, previously authorized in appropriation language arise out of the necessity for transferring patients from general hospitals not equipped to care properly for the insane to hospitals where they may receive proper treatment. Section 7 of the bill amends section 509 of the Public Health Service Act so as to make it apply to all appropriations to carry out the purposes of the Public Health Service Act instead of merely to appropriations to carry out the research functions of the Service. Section 7 would also specify additional purposes for which appropriations of the Public Health Service are to be available. All of these purposes have heretofore been authorized in the appropriations of the Public Health Service. Many of the Public Health Service stations at which commissioned officers and other employees may be detailed are at places so isolated that children of personnel required to live there could not obtain necessary schooling without the provision of transportation to school. The proposed amendment to section 509 of the Public Health Service. Act would continue the Service's authority to provide this transportation to and from school for the children of personnel who are at these isolated stations. Since the Public Health Service is responsible for the care and custody of prisoners at its institutions it must have authority to expend money for recapturing those who escape, if it is to fulfill its assigned task. The proposed amendment to section 509 would continue this authority. Section 7 of the bill would also amend section 509 so as to permit the Service to continue to supply and maintain the uniforms and other wearing apparel which its employee are required to wear in the performance of their official duties. In the course of treatment by the Service some of the patients, particularly those who are prisoners, at times become unruly and destroy the personal belongings of officers or employees. The proposed amendment to section 509 would also permit the Service to continue to pay the officer or employee for the belongings destroyed while he is performing his official functions. Lastly, the amended section 509 of the Public Health Service Act would continue the authority of the Service to make expenditures for maintenance of buildings of the National Institute of Health. Most of these buildings have been erected and equipped for laboratory work and it has been found necessary to keep a force of maintenance employees specially trained to take care of the buildings and the equipment. DEPARTMENTAL REQUEST Following is a request for the enactment of the provisions of this bill, included in a letter from the Federal Security Agency, dated June 11, 1947, addressed to the President pro tempore of the Senate: FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY, The honorable the PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I am enclosing for your consideration a draft of a bill amending the Public Health Service Act (42 U. S. C., ch. 6A) to make permanent authority, heretofore carried in annual appropriation acts, under which the Public Health Service is permitted to make certain expenditures in carrying out the purposes of that act. The purpose of the first section, which amends section 301 (d) of the Public Health Service Act, is to continue in basic legislation the authority of the Public Health Service to purchase and distribute penicillin and other antibiotic compounds for use in research projects for which grants-in-aid are made pursuant to section 301 (d) of the Public Health Service Act (this authorization was omitted from the Federal Security Agency Appropriation Act, 1947, but is included in the President's Budget for the fiscal year 1948). There are several sound reasons for continuing this authority. One is the desirability of conducting the diverse research experiments and projects with a compound of uniform consistency, quality, and quantity so as to assure accuracy in evaluating results. Such uniformity can be assured, particularly in the case of compounds developed comparatively recently, only through central purchase of the compound by the Public Health Service from the same sources. It is almost impossible to achieve when the compounds are purchased individually by the many institutions or agencies conducting the projects. Another reason is the comparative difficulty which individual recipients of the grants-in-aid experience in attempting to purchase the less readily available compounds. A third reason is the great saving to the Federal Treasury which results in many cases from the central purchase of antibiotic compounds used in the various research projects. It is frequently possible for the Public Health Service to purchase the compounds for as little as one-half of the amount it would have to expend for the same purpose in the form of grantsin-aid if the compounds had to be purchased separately for each individual research project or experiment. Section 2 (a) of the enclosed draft amends paragraph (a) of section 321 of the Public Health Service Act so as to continue the Service's authority to furnish tobacco to patients being treated by it. Frequently the furnishing of tobacco serves as an effective adjunct to the medical treatment offered by the Service, and in many instances the patients are unable to pay for it out of their own funds. This paragraph would also be amended to permit minor repairs to and maintenance of buildings by the Public Health Service. This is now authorized by appropriation language. Section 2 (b) of the enclosed draft amends paragraph (d) of section 321 of the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Service to continue to pay either the reasonable burial expenses for, or the cost of preparing and transporting the remains of, any patient who dies in a Public Health Service hospital. In almost every case relatives will claim the body of a deceased patient and take care of the burial expenses if the Government will bear the cost of shipment from the hospital to the place of burial. This will ordinarily result in a saving to the Government since the cost of shipment is generally less than the cost of burial. The language in the draft bill has been expanded over that previously contained in the appropriation acts so as to include payment of such expenses in the case of patients dying in a station as well as in a hospital of the Service, since no good reason appears for a distinction on this basis alone and since this distinction resulting from the language in our appropriation was probably unintentional. Section 3 amends section 322 (e) of the Public Health Service Act. This amendment would permit the Service to provide for the care and treatment of individuals, detained in accordance with the quarantine laws or by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in public or private facilities when the facilities of the Public Health Service are unavailable. These expenses have been authorized in the appropriations because care of persons detained by the Federal Government would seem clearly to be a responsibility of that Government. Section 4 amends section 331 of the Public Health Service Act so as to authorize the payment of transportation expenses to their homes of indigent leper patients treated by the Public Health Service. Under existing law the Service is authorized to transport the leper patients to the National Leper Home at Carville, La. It seems desirable to continue the authority heretofore carried in appropriation acts to pay for the return trip from the leper home to the patient's own home upon recovery. This authority has been modified slightly so as to make the pro |