NACCAM Charter
On this page
- Authority
- Objectives and Scope of Activities
- Description of Duties
- Agency or Official to Whom the Committee Reports
- Support
- Estimated Annual Operating Costs and Staff Years
- Designated Federal Officer
- Estimated Number and Frequency of Meetings
- Duration
- Termination
- Membership and Designation
- Subcommittees
- Recordkeeping
- Filing Date
Authority
42 U.S.C. 284a, section 406 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, as amended. The National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Council) is governed by the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. app.), which sets forth standards for the formation and use of advisory committees.
Objectives and Scope of Activities
The Council will advise, assist, consult with, and make recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) and the Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM, also referred to as Center) on matters relating to the activities carried out by and through the Center and the policies respecting these activities; may recommend for support grants and cooperative agreements, following technical and scientific peer review; and relating to the functions pertaining to NCCAM described under sections 405 and 406 of the PHS Act, as amended.
Description of Duties
The Council may recommend to the Secretary, in accordance with section 231 of the PHS Act, as amended, acceptance of conditional gifts for study, investigation, or research on complementary and alternative medicine treatment modalities, for the acquisition of grounds, or for the construction, equipping, or maintenance of facilities for the Center.
The Council may review applications for grants and cooperative agreements for research and training and recommend approval of applications for projects that show promise of making valuable contributions to human knowledge; may review any grant, contract, or cooperative agreement proposed to be made or entered into by the Center; may collect, by correspondence or by personal investigation, information as to studies that are being carried on in the United States or any other country and, with the approval of the Director of NCCAM, make available such information through appropriate publications for the benefit of public and private health entities, health professions personnel and scientists, and for the information for the general public.
The Council may prepare, for inclusion in the Biennial Report prepared by the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), under section 403 of the PHS Act, as amended (1) comments reflecting the activities of the Council in the fiscal years in which the report is prepared; (2) comments on the progress of the Center in meeting its objectives; and (3) recommendations respecting the future directions and program policy emphasis of the Center. The Council may prepare any additional reports as it determines appropriate. The Council may implement procedures for expediting en bloc Council concurrence of Scientific Review Group recommendations. A member or members may be selected by the Executive Secretary or Chair to provide en bloc concurrence on behalf of the Council. Only those applications that do not require individual consideration will be included in this expedited process. A report of the en bloc recommendations will be presented at each Council meeting.
Agency or Official to Whom the Committee Reports
The Council will advise the Secretary; the Assistant Secretary for Health; the Director, NIH; and the Director, NCCAM.
Support
Management and support services will be provided by the Office of the Director, NCCAM.
Estimated Annual Operating Costs and Staff Years
The estimated annual cost for operating the Council, including compensation and travel expenses for members, but excluding staff support, is $78,368. The estimate of annual person-years of staff support required is 1.3 at an estimated annual cost of $171,053.
Designated Federal Officer
The Director, NCCAM, will assign a full-time or permanent part-time NCCAM employee to serve as the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) of the Council. In the event the DFO cannot fulfill the assigned duties of the Council, one or more full-time or permanent part-time NCCAM employees will be assigned these duties on a temporary basis.
The DFO will approve or call all of the Council’s and subcommittees’ meetings, prepare and approve all meeting agendas, attend all Council and subcommittee meetings, adjourn any meeting when it is determined to be in the public interest, and chair meetings when directed to do so by the Director, NIH or Director, NCCAM.
Estimated Number and Frequency of Meetings
Meetings of the full Council will be held not less than 3 times within a fiscal year. Meetings will be open to the public except as determined otherwise by the Secretary in accordance with subsection (c) of section 552b of Title 5 U.S.C. Notice of all meetings will be given to the public. In the event a portion of a meeting is closed to the public, as determined by the Secretary, in accordance with the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b(c)) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a report will be prepared that will contain, as a minimum, a list of members and their business addresses, the Council’s functions, dates and places of meetings, and a summary of the Council’s activities and recommendations made during the fiscal year. A copy of the report will be provided to the Department Committee Management Officer.
Duration
This Council is mandated by statute with no specified end date.
Termination
Unless renewed by appropriate action prior to its expiration, the Charter for the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine will expire two years from the date the charter is filed.
Membership and Designation
The Council will consist of 18 members appointed by the Secretary and 5 nonvoting ex officio members: the Secretary; the Director, NIH; the Director, NCCAM; the Chief Medical Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (or their designees) and any additional officers or employees of the United States as the Secretary determines necessary for the Council to effectively carry out its functions. Of the 18 appointed members, 12 will be selected from among the leading representatives of the health and scientific disciplines (including not less than 2 individuals who are leaders in the fields of public health and the behavioral or social sciences) relevant to the activities of the NCCAM, particularly representatives of the health and scientific disciplines in the areas of complementary and alternative medicine. Nine of the members will be practitioners licensed in one or more of the major systems with which the Center is involved. Six of the members will be appointed by the Secretary from the general public and will include leaders in the fields of public policy, law, health policy, economics, and management. Three of the six will represent the interests of individual consumers of complementary and alternative medicine. All non-Federal members will serve as Special Government Employees. A member who has been appointed for a term of four years may not be reappointed to this Council before two years from the date of expiration of that member’s term of office. If a vacancy occurs among the appointed members, the Secretary will make an appointment to fill the vacancy within 90 days from the date the vacancy occurs. A quorum for the conduct of business by the full Council will consist of a majority of currently appointed members.
Members will be invited to serve for overlapping four-year terms, except that any member appointed to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term will be appointed for the remainder of that term. A member may serve 180 days after the expiration of that member’s term if a successor has not taken office.
The Chair of the Council shall be selected by the Secretary from among the appointed members, except that the Secretary may select the Director, NCCAM, to be the Chair. The term of office of the Chair shall be two years.
Subcommittees
As necessary, subcommittees, ad hoc working groups, workshops, and conferences may be established by the DFO within the Council’s jurisdiction. The advice/recommendations of a subcommittee/working group must be deliberated by the parent advisory committee. A subcommittee may not report directly to a Federal official unless there is statutory authority to do so.
Subcommittee membership may be drawn in whole or in part from the parent advisory committee. All subcommittee members may vote on subcommittee actions and all subcommittee members count toward the quorum for a subcommittee meeting. A quorum for a subcommittee will be three members. Ad hoc consultants do not count toward the quorum and may not vote. The Department Committee Management Officer will be notified upon establishment of each standing subcommittee and will be provided information on its name, membership, function, and estimated frequency of meetings.
Recordkeeping
Meetings of the Council and its subcommittees will be conducted according to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, other applicable laws and Departmental policies. Council and subcommittee records will be handled in accordance with General Records Schedule 26, Item 2 or other approved agency records disposition schedule. These records will be available for public inspection and copying, subject to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.
Filing Date
January 28, 2011
Approved:
December 29, 2010
Francis Collins, NIH Director
