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Sponsored Bills
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) Iraq's neighbors and other international partners should carry through on previous pledges to provide reconstruction assistance to Iraq; and (2) the United States should consider an Iraq Study Group recommendation to merge U.S. and international reconstruction assistance and Iraqi participants to ensure that projects in Iraq are rapidly and efficiently carried out.
- Supports the goals and ideals of National Teen Driver Safety Week.
- Encourages the people of the United States to observe the week with activities that promote licensed teenage drivers to drive safely.
Declares that the United States Postal Service (USPS) should discontinue the practice of contracting out mail delivery services.
- Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to increase public awareness of resources available to pregnant women to carry their pregnancy to term and new parents.
- Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the Secretary to make grants for the purchase of ultrasound equipment for examinations of pregnant women.
- Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit a health insurance issuer offering individual coverage from imposing a preexisting condition exclusion or a waiting period or otherwise discriminating against a woman on the basis that she is pregnant.
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- Expresses support for the goals and ideals of National Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month and invites states and U.S. territories and possessions to issue proclamations designating March 2008 as that month.
- Reaffirms the nation's commitment to combating multiple sclerosis by promoting awareness about its causes and risks and by promoting new education programs, supporting research, and expanding access to medical treatment.
- Recognizes all Americans living with multiple sclerosis, expresses gratitude to their family members and friends, and salutes the health care professionals who provide assistance to those afflicted and the researchers who continue to work to find cures and improve treatments.
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Co-Sponsored Bills
- Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through various federal agencies, to develop a national Shaken Baby Syndrome public health campaign. Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop a National Action Plan and effective strategies to increase awareness of opportunities to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome; and (2) coordinate the Plan and strategies with evidence-based strategies and efforts that support families with infants and other young children.
- Directs the Secretary to carry out communication, education, and training about Shaken Baby Syndrome prevention, including efforts to communicate with the general public, such as by: (1) disseminating effective prevention practices and techniques to parents and caregivers; (2) producing evidence-based educational and information materials; and (3) carrying out Shaken Baby Syndrome training.
- Requires the Secretary to work to ensure that the parents and caregivers of children are connected to effective supports through the coordination of existing programs and networks or the establishment of new programs, including a 24-hour phone hotline and the development of an Internet website for round-the-clock support.
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- Declares that the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of the Honorable Howard Metzenbaum, a former member of the U.S. Senate.
- Declares that when the Senate recesses on March 13, 2008, it stand in recess as a further mark of respect to the memory of Senator Metzenbaum.
- Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award quality reform grants to eligible entities to enhance, encourage, and expedite implementation of quality reform plans in order to: (1) encourage the coordinated development of local health care quality reforms; (2) fund the development of practices beneficial to the health care system; (3) expand information technology, electronic health records, and interoperable data systems in the health care system; (4) develop reimbursement practices that align financial incentives with health and prevention reforms to identify and encourage best practices; (5) lower the costs of health care delivery; (6) encourage experimentation in different U.S. regions; and (7) reward cooperation among local entities engaged in reforming the health care system.
- Requires the Secretary to establish the Quality Reform Committee, which shall: (1) approve the application of an eligible entity and recommend to the Secretary that a grant be awarded; (2) evaluate and exchange best practices related to activities carried out under the grant; (3) share research and expertise; and (4) study, identify, and report on market failures and anomalies that create economic incentives adverse to achievement of the goals of quality reform, cost reduction, health information technology expansion, and illness prevention.
- Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish demonstration projects to: (1) increase public awareness about the factors that lead to chronic kidney disease, how to prevent it, how to treat it, and how to avoid kidney failure, as well as enhance surveillance systems and expand research to better assess the prevalence and incidence of kidney disease; and (2) enable individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to develop self-management skills.
- Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for Medicare coverage of kidney disease patient education services.
- Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish blood flow monitoring demonstration projects; and (2) arrange with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate the barriers to increasing the number of individuals with ESRD who elect to receive home dialysis services or other treatment modalities under Medicare.
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Directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation of a congressional gold medal to Michael Ellis DeBakey, M.D. (who performed the first successful coronary bypass, pioneered the field of telemedicine, was elected the first President of Baylor College of Medicine, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction and the National Medal of Science) in recognition of his many outstanding contributions to the nation.
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