42 U.S.C. § 300u–10 — National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council

(a) Establishment: The President must set up a council inside the Department of Health and Human Services, called the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council (the "Council"). (b) Chairperson: The President appoints the Surgeon General to chair the Council. (c) Composition: The Council includes: the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Education; the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission; the Secretary of Transportation; the Secretary of Labor; the Secretary of Homeland Security; the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy; the Director of the Domestic Policy Council; the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs; the Chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service; and the head of any other federal agency the chairperson picks. (d) Purposes and duties: The Council must: (1) lead and coordinate federal work on prevention, wellness, health promotion, the public health system, and integrative health care; (2) after hearing from stakeholders, build a national strategy for prevention, health promotion, public health, and integrative health care that uses the most effective and realistic ways to improve Americans' health and cut preventable illness and disability; (3) recommend to the President and Congress the most urgent health issues and the policy changes needed to meet wellness and public health goals, including cutting tobacco use, inactivity, and poor nutrition; (4) consider and propose evidence-based models and policies for new approaches to prevention, integrative health, and public health for individuals and communities; (5) set up ways for the public — including state, regional, and local leaders, tribes, and tribal organizations — to keep giving input; (6) submit the reports required under subsection (g); and (7) do other things the President decides are appropriate. (e) Meetings: The Council meets when the Chairperson calls a meeting. (f) Advisory Group: (1) In general: The President must create an Advisory Group to the Council, called the "Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health." It sits inside the Department of Health and Human Services and reports to the Surgeon General. (2) Composition: (A) It has no more than 25 non-federal members, appointed by the President. (B) The President must make sure the group includes a diverse mix of licensed health professionals — including integrative health practitioners — with expertise in: worksite health promotion; community services, including community health centers; preventive medicine; health coaching; public health education; geriatrics; and rehabilitation medicine. (3) Purposes and duties: The Advisory Group develops policy and program ideas and advises the Council on preventing and managing lifestyle-based chronic disease, integrative health care, and health promotion. (g) National prevention and health promotion strategy: Within 1 year of March 23, 2010, the Chairperson — working with the Council — must write and publish a national prevention, health promotion, and public health strategy, and review and update it from time to time. The strategy must: (1) set specific, measurable goals for improving Americans' health through federally supported prevention and public health programs, matching goals other agencies are already pursuing; (2) set specific actions and deadlines for carrying out the strategy, and decide who is accountable for meeting them, across federal departments; and (3) recommend ways to improve federal prevention, health promotion, public health, and integrative health care efforts so they match the best available standards and evidence. (h) Report: Starting July 1, 2010, and every year after that through January 1, 2015, the Council must send the President and relevant Congressional committees a report that: (1) describes the Council's prevention, health promotion, and public health work, and its work on the national strategy, during that period; (2) describes national progress toward the strategy's goals, and describes fixes the Council recommended and agencies actually made; (3) lists national priorities for health promotion and disease prevention — covering smoking cessation, proper nutrition, exercise, mental health, behavioral health, substance use disorder, and domestic violence screening — and prevention steps for the 5 leading causes of death in the United States; (4) lists specific, science-based plans to hit the measurable Healthy People 2020 goals for nutrition, exercise, and smoking cessation, aimed at the 5 leading causes of death; (5) lists specific plans to combine federal health programs and centers that promote healthy behavior and reduce disease risk, including eliminating ones found ineffective at meeting Healthy People 2020 priorities; (6) lists specific plans to make sure all federal health care programs follow the science-based prevention advice of the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and (7) lists specific plans to make sure all prevention programs outside the Department of Health and Human Services follow the science-based guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention develops under paragraph (4). (i) Periodic reviews: The Secretary must review and evaluate every federal disease-prevention and health-promotion initiative, program, and agency at least every 5 years. Each review must judge the program against measurable goals, and the analysis must be posted on that agency's public website.