Public Health Improvement Act

Public Health Improvement Act - Title I: Emerging Threats to Public Health - Public Health Threats and Emergencies Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, on determining that a public health emergency exists, to take appropriate response action, including conducting and supporting investigations into the cause, treatment, or prevention of the disease or disorder. Establishes the Public Health Emergency Fund to support those activities.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) establish reasonable capacities appropriate for national, State, and local public health systems and their work forces to detect and respond effectively to significant public health threats; (2) award grants to determine the extent to which States or local public health agencies can achieve those capacities; and (3) award grants to address core public health capacity needs. Authorizes appropriations.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2010 for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for defending and combating public health threats of the 21st century.

Directs the Secretary to establish an Antimicrobial Resistance Task Force to advise the Secretary on, and coordinate, Federal programs relating to antimicrobial resistance, requiring: (1) the conducting and support of research and demonstrations regarding antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and regarding the sequencing of the genomes of priority pathogens; (2) education of the public and health professionals regarding antibiotic use; (3) training of laboratory personnel in the recognition of resistance in pathogens; (4) grants to increase the capacity to detect, monitor, and combat antimicrobial resistance; and (5) grants to establish demonstration programs to promote the judicious use of antimicrobial drugs or control the spread of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Authorizes appropriations.

Directs the Secretary to establish a joint interdepartmental working group on readiness for the medical and public health effects of a bioterrorist attack on the civilian population. Directs the Secretary to establish a joint interdepartmental working group on the medical and public health effects of a bioterrorist attack on the civilian population, requiring: (1) grants or cooperative agreements to increase the capacity to detect, diagnose, and respond to acts of bioterrorism on the civilian population; (2) educational programs to instruct personnel working in health care facilities in the recognition and care of victims of a bioterrorist attack; (3) programs to train laboratory personnel in the recognition and identification of a potential bioweapon; (4) related research; and (5) a related Comptroller General's report to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations.

Mandates grants for demonstration programs to improve the detection of pathogens likely to be used in a bioterrorist attack on the civilian population, the development of response plans and measures, and the training of response personnel. Requires a related comptroller General's report to specified congressional committees. Authorizes appropriations.

Title II: Clinical Research Enhancement - Clinical Research Enhancement Act of 2000 - Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to: (1) support and expand NIH's involvement in clinical research; (2) support and expand the resources available for the clinical research community; and (3) establish peer review mechanisms.

(Sec. 204) Mandates grants to: (1) establish general clinical research centers to provide the infrastructure for clinical research, including clinical research training and career enhancement; (2) support individual careers in clinical research at general clinical research centers or at other institutions (to be known as Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Awards); (3) support individual clinical research projects at general clinical research centers or at other institutions (to be known as Mid-Career Investigator Awards in Patient-Oriented Research); (4) support individuals pursuing master's or doctoral degrees in clinical investigation (to be known as Graduate Training in Clinical Investigation Awards); and (5) develop and support programs for training clinical investigators in biostatistics, pharmacology, and other core curricula (to be known as Clinical Research Curriculum Awards). Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 205) Directs the Secretary to establish a loan repayment program for qualified health professionals who have contracted with the Federal Government to conduct clinical research in return for the Government's repayment of a specified amount of their educational loans for each year of service. Authorizes appropriations to carry out the loan repayment provisions.

(Sec. 207) Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the extent to which NIH has complied with requirements of this title.

Title III: Research Laboratory Infrastructure - Twenty-First Century Research Laboratories Act - Adds congressional reporting requirements about the status of biomedical and behavioral research facilities and the availability and condition of technologically sophisticated laboratory equipment, authorizing appropriations. Reauthorizes and extends construction programs for regional primate research centers.

Reauthorizes on a permanent basis the Shared Instrumentation Grant Program.

Title IV: Cardiac Arrest Survival - Subtitle A: Recommendations for Federal Buildings - Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary to establish guidelines regarding placing automated external defibrillator devices in Federal buildings. Makes any person who acquires an automated external defibrillator or uses it on a victim of a perceived medical emergency immune from Federal civil liability for resulting harm, subject to exception.

Subtitle B: Rural Access to Emergency Devices - Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act or the Rural AED Act - Directs the Secretary to make grants to qualified community partnerships to enable such partnerships to purchase automatic external defibrillators and to provide defibrillator and basic life support training in automated external defibrillator usage. Authorizes appropriations.

Title V: Lupus Research and Care - Lupus Research and Care Amendments of 2000 - Subtitle A: Research on Lupus - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to expand and intensify research and related activities of the Institute regarding lupus.

Requires the Director to: (1) coordinate such activities with similar activities conducted by other national research institutes and agencies of the National Institutes of Health; and (2) conduct or support research to expand the understanding of the causes of, and to find a cure for, lupus, including research to determine the reasons underlying the elevated prevalence of the disease among African-American and other women.

Authorizes appropriations.

Subtitle B: Delivery of Services Regarding Lupus - Mandates grants for the establishment, operation, and coordination of effective and cost-efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals with lupus and their families. Requires the Secretary to: (1) ensure that grant projects provide services for lupus diagnosis and disease management; and (2) integrate such projects with other grant programs carried out by the Secretary. Authorizes technical assistance. Authorizes appropriations.

Title VI: Prostate Cancer Research and Prevention - Prostate Cancer Research and Prevention Act - Revises the prostate cancer screening preventive health program and reauthorizes NIH prostate cancer research.

Title VII: Organ Procurement and Donation - Organ Procurement Organization Certification Act of 2000 - Adds to the list of requirements to be met by qualified organ procurement organizations that an organization has been certified or recertified by the Secretary within the previous four-year period as meeting performance standards. Requires certification or recertification to be made through a process that either granted certification or recertification with such certification or recertification in effect as of January 1, 2000, and remaining in effect through the earlier of January 1, 2002, or the completion of recertification under regulations promulgated by the Secretary, or that is defined through regulations promulgated by January 1, 2002, that: (1) require recertifications of such organizations no more frequently than once every four years; (2) rely on outcome and process performance measures that are based on empirical evidence of organ donor potential and other related factors in each service area of such organizations; (3) use multiple outcome measures as part of the certification process; and (4) provide for a qualified organization to appeal a decertification to the Secretary on substantive and procedural grounds.

Designates November 23, 2000, Thanksgiving Day, as a day to "Give Thanks, Give Life" and to discuss organ and tissue donation with other family members so that informed decisions can be made if the occasion to donate arises.

Title VIII: Alzheimer's Clinical Research and Training - Authorizes the Director of the National Institute on Aging to establish and maintain a program to enhance and promote the translation of new scientific knowledge into clinical practice relating to the diagnosis, care, and treatment of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Requires that amounts made available under this title be directed to the support of promising clinicians in environments of demonstrated excellence. Authorizes appropriations.

Title IX: Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinical Research and Training - Authorizes the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to establish and maintain a program to enhance and promote the translation of new scientific knowledge into clinical practice relating to the diagnosis, care, and treatment of individuals with sexually transmitted diseases. Requires that amounts made available under this title be directed to the support of promising clinicians in environments of demonstrated excellence. Authorizes appropriations.

Title X: Miscellaneous Provision - Makes a technical correction to the Children's Health Act of 2000, P.L. 106-310.