GET CARE Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4507 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance of seeking preventive health services and the utilization of such services. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance of seeking preventive health services and the utilization of such services. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Getting Early Treat- 4 ment and Comprehensive Assessments Reduces Emer- 5 gencies Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘GET CARE Act of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4507 IS SEC. 2. IMPROVING AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF PRE- 1 VENTIVE CARE TO REDUCE DISEASE, ILL- 2 NESS, AND OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS. 3 Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act 4 (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 5 the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 320B. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON THE IM- 7 PORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE CARE SERVICES. 8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 9 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 10 vention and other offices and agencies, as appropriate, 11 shall award competitive grants to one or more public or 12 private entities to carry out a national, evidence-based 13 campaign to increase awareness of the importance of rec- 14 ommended preventive care services for the prevention and 15 control of diseases and illness during the COVID–19 pan- 16 demic, combat misinformation about seeking preventive 17 care during the COVID–19 pandemic, reiterate the safety 18 of health care facilities, emphasize the availability of in- 19 person and virtual preventative care, and disseminate sci- 20 entific and evidence-based, preventive care-related infor- 21 mation, with the goal of increasing the number of individ- 22 uals of all ages seeking recommended preventive care, as 23 applicable, particularly in medically underserved commu- 24 nities, communities of color, and communities dispropor- 25 tionately impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4507 IS ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the campaign 1 under this section, the Secretary shall consult with appro- 2 priate public health and health care experts, including the 3 United States Preventive Services Task Force and medical 4 and public health associations and nonprofit organiza- 5 tions, in the development, implementation, and evaluation 6 of the evidence-based public awareness campaign. 7 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The campaign under this sec- 8 tion— 9 ‘‘(1) shall be a national, evidence-based initia- 10 tive; 11 ‘‘(2) may include the use of television, radio, 12 the internet, and other telecommunications tech- 13 nologies; 14 ‘‘(3) may be focused to address specific needs 15 of communities that are medically underserved, com- 16 munities of color, communities disproportionately 17 impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic, or other com- 18 munities as appropriate; 19 ‘‘(4) shall include the development of resources 20 for medically underserved communities, including 21 culturally and linguistically appropriate resources; 22 ‘‘(5) shall include the dissemination of informa- 23 tion about recommended preventive care services to 24 health care providers and health care facilities, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4507 IS cluding tools for providers to communicate with pa- 1 tients about those services; 2 ‘‘(6) shall be complementary to, and coordi- 3 nated with, any other Federal efforts and State ef- 4 forts, as appropriate; 5 ‘‘(7) shall assess the effectiveness of commu- 6 nication strategies to increase the use of preventive 7 care services; and 8 ‘‘(8) may include the dissemination of scientific 9 and evidence-based preventive care services informa- 10 tion to providers, patients, and other stakeholders, 11 such as— 12 ‘‘(A) advancements in evidence-based re- 13 search related to diseases, illnesses, and other 14 medical conditions that may be mitigated by 15 preventive care services; 16 ‘‘(B) information on preventive care for in- 17 dividuals and communities, 18 ‘‘(C) information on diseases, illnesses, and 19 other medical conditions that may be prevented 20 by preventive care; 21 ‘‘(D) information on preventive care and 22 the systems in place to monitor the safety of 23 providing preventive care during and after the 24 COVID–19 pandemic; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4507 IS ‘‘(E) information on the relative risk of ac- 1 cessing care during the COVID–19 pandemic 2 versus forgoing preventive care. 3 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall— 4 ‘‘(1) establish benchmarks and metrics to quan- 5 titatively measure and evaluate the awareness cam- 6 paign under this section; 7 ‘‘(2) conduct qualitative assessments regarding 8 the awareness campaign under this section; and 9 ‘‘(3) prepare and submit to the Committee on 10 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen- 11 ate and Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 12 House of Representatives an evaluation of the 13 awareness campaign under this section.’’. 14 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO ADDRESS DISEASES, ILLNESSES, AND 15 MEDICAL CONDITIONS WHERE REGULAR 16 PREVENTIVE CARE CAN IMPROVE HEALTH 17 OUTCOMES. 18 Section 317(k) of the Public Health Service Act (42 19 U.S.C. 247b(k)) is amended— 20 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 21 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 22 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4507 IS ‘‘(3) The Secretary may make grants to States, polit- 1 ical subdivisions of States, and other public and nonprofit 2 private entities for— 3 ‘‘(A) planning, implementation, and evaluation 4 of activities to address diseases, illnesses, and med- 5 ical conditions where regular preventive care can im- 6 prove health outcomes, including activities to— 7 ‘‘(i) identify medically underserved commu- 8 nities with reduced access to or utilization of 9 recommended preventive care services, commu- 10 nities of color, and communities disproportion- 11 ately impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic; 12 ‘‘(ii) pilot innovative approaches to improve 13 the utilization of recommended preventive care 14 services in medically underserved communities 15 with reduced access to or utilization of such 16 services among communities of color and com- 17 munities disproportionately impacted by the 18 COVID–19 pandemic; 19 ‘‘(iii) reduce barriers to accessing preven- 20 tive care, information on how to safely access 21 care during the COVID–19 pandemic, and in- 22 formation about health benefits of seeking pre- 23 ventive care; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4507 IS ‘‘(iv) partner with community organiza- 1 tions, health care providers, public health orga- 2 nizations, local health departments, and other 3 stakeholders to develop and deliver evidence- 4 based interventions to increase the usage of rec- 5 ommended preventive care; and 6 ‘‘(v) improve delivery of evidence-based 7 preventive care-related information to the pub- 8 lic; and 9 ‘‘(B) research related to strategies for improv- 10 ing awareness of scientific and evidence-based, pre- 11 ventive care-related information, including for medi- 12 cally underserved communities with reduced access 13 to or utilization of preventive care, for communities 14 of color, and in communities disproportionately im- 15 pacted by the COVID–19 pandemic, in order to un- 16 derstand barriers to preventive care, improve the uti- 17 lization of recommended preventive care services, 18 and assess the public health outcomes of such strate- 19 gies.’’. 20 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 21 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 22 section 320B of the Public Health Service Act, as added 23 by section 2, and section 317(k)(3) of such Act, as amend- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4507 IS ed by section 3, such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 1 years 2020 through 2024. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS