Executive Order 10317—Establishing the President's Commission of the Health Needs of the Nation

WHEREAS our Nation's strength is directly dependent upon the health of its people; and WHEREAS the needs of our military, defense-production, and civil-defense programs for an assured and adequate supply of personnel and services present special problems in the allocation of our health resources during the emergency period; and WHEREAS it is essential that at all times adequate provision be made to meet the health needs of the general public, including veterans; and WHEREAS an objective appraisal of the effect of actions taken to provide for immediate and emergency needs is essential at this time in order that we may continue to meet long-term requirements for safeguarding and improving the health of the Nation: NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the Untied States, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There is hereby established a commission to be known as the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation, which shall consist of a chairman and fourteen other members to be designated by the President. SEC. 2. The Commission is authorized and directed to inquire into and study the following: (1) The current and prospective supply of physicians, dentists, nurses, hospital administrators, and allied professional workers; the adequacy of this supply in terms of the present demands for service; and the ability of educational institutions and other training facilities to provide such additional trained persons as may be required to meet prospective requirements. (b) The present ability of local public health units to meet demands imposed by civil defense requirements and by the needs of the general public during this mobilization period. (c) The problems created by the shift of thousands of workers to defense-production areas requiring the relocation of doctors and other professional personnel and the establishment of additional facilities to meet health needs. (d) The degree to which 3xisting and planned medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, meet present and prospective needs for such facilities. (e) Current research activities in the field of health and the programs needed to keep pace with new developments. (f) The effect upon the continued maintenance of a desirable standard of civilian health of the actions taken to meet the long-range requirements of military, civil-defense, veteran's, and other public-service programs for medical personnel and facilities. (g) The adequacy of private and public programs designed to provide methods of financing medical care. (h) The extent of Federal, State, and local-government services in the health field, and the desirable level of expenditures for such purposes taking into consideration other financial obligations of government and the expenditures for health purposes from private sources. SEC. 3. The Commission shall present to the President in writing such interim reports and final report of its studies of the subjects designated in section 2 of this order, including its recommendations for governmental action, either legislative or administrative, as it shall deem appropriate. SEC. 4. In connection with its inquiries and studies, the Commission is authorized to hold such public hearings and to hear such witnesses as it may deem appropriate. SEC. 5. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Commission in its work and to furnish the Commission such information and assistance, not inconsistent with law, as it may require in the performance of its functions and duties; but this order shall not be construed as otherwise modifying the functions or responsibilities of any such department or agency. SEC. 6. The expenditures of the Commission shall be paid out of an allotment made by the President from the appropriation entitled "Emergency Fund for the President, National Defense" (Title III of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1952, Public Law 137, 82d Congress, approved August 31, 1951). Such payments shall be made without regard to the provisions of (a) section 3681 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (31 U.S.C. 672), (b) section 9 of the act of March 4, 1909, 35 Stat. 1027 (31 U.S.C. 673), and (c) such other laws as the President may hereafter specify. SEC. 7. The Commission shall cease to exist thirty days after rendition of its final report to the President under section 3 of this order or one year after the date of this order, whichever shall first occur. HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, December 29, 1951