§284s Tick-borne Diseases

Summary

The Secretary of Health and Human Services must keep doing and paying for research on diseases spread by ticks and other insects. The Secretary must also make sure that every three years the government’s report about these diseases includes what the National Institutes of Health has done on tick-borne disease research. The Secretary must set up a Tick-Borne Disease Working Group made of federal officials and nonfederal experts. The group must review HHS efforts, help coordinate agencies, find research priorities, and get advice from states, local health officials, patient groups, doctors, researchers, and industry. The group must include seven federal members (from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and other HHS offices the Secretary picks) and seven nonfederal public members (doctors, scientists, patients or family members, patient advocacy groups, and other useful experts). The group must meet at least twice a year, make or update a summary of research and gaps within 2 years after December 13, 2016, send reports to Congress and post them online every 2 years until the group ends 6 years after December 13, 2016, and follow the Federal Advisory Committee Act.