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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 21, 2024 03:20 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative David H. Zimmerman |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Procurement of a Commonwealth Medical Stockpile |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to address a shortcoming that was made apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, we learned many lessons, one of which was the need to develop and maintain an emergency stockpile of various medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other supplies to prevent or contain contact with, or to prevent transmission of, a communicable illness. My bill will require the Commonwealth to select an organization, by competitive bid, to oversee the procurement, manufacturing, and distribution of these supplies in this Commonwealth. This organization will purchase and keep up to date a stockpile to be used by a facility in the event of a disaster emergency. Funding of the stockpile will occur from a fee on purchased PPE until the required amount of PPE stored in the stockpile meets the requirements of this bill. Facilities that will be able to obtain supplies from this stockpile include domiciliary care, personal care homes, assisted living residences, home care agencies, home care registries, home health care agencies, hospices, long-term care nursing facilities, older adult daily living centers, and PACE providers. In addition, my bill will create an Infectious Disease Advisory Commission. This Commission will be responsible for examining and analyzing the practices, processes, and procedures relating to the prevention of and response to infectious diseases in facilities. In addition, the Commission will develop best practices on disease prevention, education, training requirements, and any other operations that may be altered for facilities during a disaster emergency. It is important that we learn from prior events to better plan for future emergencies. By developing a medical stockpile, we will be better prepared, and we will be able to care for some of our most vulnerable citizens. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB2554