Vital STATS Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1478 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Medicine under which the National Academy agrees to conduct a one-year study assessing the effectiveness of current vital statistics reporting and data sharing between State, local, Tribal, and Federal agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 2, 2021 Mr. TAYLOR (for himself, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, and Mr. SCHRADER) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Medicine under which the National Academy agrees to conduct a one-year study assessing the effectiveness of current vital statistics reporting and data sharing be- tween State, local, Tribal, and Federal agencies, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:02 Apr 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1478.IH H1478 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1478 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vital Standardization 2 of Thoughtful Administrative Techniques and Statistics 3 Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘Vital STATS Act of 2021’’. 4 SEC. 2. STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF VITAL STATISTICS 5 REPORTING. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services shall enter into an agreement with the 8 National Academy of Medicine under which the National 9 Academy agrees to conduct a one-year study assessing the 10 effectiveness of current vital statistics reporting and data 11 sharing between State, local, Tribal, and Federal agencies 12 and the degree to which there is divergence between State, 13 local, Tribal, and Federal vital statistics reporting. 14 (b) REPORT.—The agreement entered into under 15 subsection (a) shall require the National Academy of Med- 16 icine to, not later 1 year after the date on which the agree- 17 ment is entered into, to submit to Congress a report con- 18 taining the findings of the study conducted pursuant to 19 such subsection. Such report shall include recommenda- 20 tions with respect to— 21 (1) coordination and standardization of State, 22 local, Tribal, and Federal vital statistics reporting 23 methods, including the efficiency, effectiveness, and 24 transparency of such reporting; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:02 Apr 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1478.IH H1478 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1478 IH (2) the feasibility of setting national standards 1 for death reporting and collecting vital statistics. 2 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 3 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4 $1,000,000, to remain available until expended. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:02 Apr 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1478.IH H1478 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS