S.425

In March, 2011 during the first session of the 112th Congress, Bill S.425, also known as the National Neurological Diseases Surveillance System Act of 2011, was introduced.  This bill seeks to amend the Public Health Service Act to allow for a national surveillance program to monitor neurological diseases including Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.  The bill was introduced by Mark Udall, read twice, and referred to the HELP Committee for review.  The bill calls for the Secretary to expand the ways in which monitoring of neurological disorders is conducted, develop a universal system to be used for storing information about such disorders, provide recommendations for continuing research in the field, and store important data related to these diseases such as demographics, risk factors, diagnostic markers, epidemiology, prevention, and outcomes criteria.  The bill also mandates that the Secretary will report findings to Congress no later than four years after the bill is enacted.  The bill gives the Secretary authority to issue grants to appropriate parties conducting research related to this topic.  Regarding finances, the bill states that priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2012, and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years" (National Neurological Diseases Surveillance System Act of 2011, 2011).