House Passes Comprehensive Childhood Cancer Legislation, the STAR Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House of Representatives passed S. 292, the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act, which is the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever taken up by Congress. Congresswoman Susan W. Brooks (R-IN05) is a co-sponsor of the Childhood Cancer STAR Act and recently met with Hoosier advocates in support of the bill in her Washington, D.C. office.

“A young boy from Carmel, Indiana lost his battle with brain cancer at only six years old,” said Brooks. “Sadly, his parents are not alone in grieving the loss of a child to cancer. There are children in every corner of our country who are battling or losing their fight with this ruthless disease. The STAR Act will help advance research efforts to discover new therapies and treatments to save lives and combat pediatric cancer. The STAR Act also works to improve the overall quality of life for pediatric cancer survivors by improving systems for monitoring and providing treatment. I am proud this bill has passed the House of Representatives and look forward to the President signing it into law.”

Specifically, the Childhood Cancer STAR Act will:

• Authorize $30 million a year through FY 2023 for grants to support the National Childhood Cancer Registry.
• Authorize the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to make awards to support childhood cancer biorepositories available to health care professionals and scientific researchers.
• Authorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to award grants to state cancer registries to enhance and expand infrastructure to track the epidemiology of cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults.
• Require at least one individual with experience in pediatric oncology to be included on the National Cancer Advisory Board.
• Require the Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH) to ensure that childhood cancer research projects conducted or supported by NIH are included in the appropriate reports to Congress, which may include reports regarding the Pediatric Research Initiative.
• Allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants establishing pilot programs to develop, study, or evaluate model systems to improve the quality and efficiency of care for childhood cancer survivors and to improve the coordination of care as survivors transition to adult care.
• Require the Secretary to conduct a review and report to Congress on the Department’s activities related to workforce development for health care providers who treat pediatric cancer patients and survivors.
• Allow the NIH Director to make grants to entities to conduct or support research relating to pediatric cancer survivors.
• Allow the Secretary to identify best practices for quality childhood cancer survivorship care in consultation with experts in late effects of disease and treatment of childhood cancers.

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