ETHIC Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8205 To amend the Public Health Service Act to expand, enhance, and improve applicable public health data systems used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself, Ms. UNDERWOOD, and Ms. HAALAND) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En- ergy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Re- sources, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to expand, enhance, and improve applicable public health data systems used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Transparent 4 Honest Information on COVID–19 Act’’ or the ‘‘ETHIC 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8205 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRED REPORTING BY STATE, LOCAL, TRIBAL, 1 OR TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENTS REGARD- 2 ING COVID–19. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt of funds 4 through a covered grant or cooperative agreement, a 5 State, local, Tribal, or territorial government shall agree 6 to direct the appropriate State, local, Tribal, or territorial 7 governmental entity (including any public health depart- 8 ment thereof) to report to the Centers for Disease Control 9 and Prevention, with respect to the jurisdiction involved 10 and COVID–19— 11 (1) on a daily basis, the information listed in 12 subsection (c); and 13 (2) on a weekly basis, the information listed in 14 subsection (d). 15 (b) TRIBAL WAIVER.— 16 (1) REVIEW AND DISPOSITION.—Upon the re- 17 ceipt of a written request from a Tribal government, 18 or consortia thereof, for a waiver of the conditions 19 specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection 20 (a), the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 21 and Prevention shall, not later than 30 days after 22 receipt of such request, approve or deny it. 23 (2) DENIALS.—In the case of a denial of a re- 24 quest under paragraph (1), the Director of the Cen- 25 ters for Disease Control and Prevention shall— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8205 IH (A) provide to the requestor a written ex- 1 planation of the reasons for the denial; and 2 (B) provide the requestor with an oppor- 3 tunity to correct any deficiencies in the request. 4 (c) COVERED GRANT OR COOPERATIVE AGREE- 5 MENT.—For purposes of this section, a covered grant or 6 cooperative agreement is any grant or cooperative agree- 7 ment awarded under any of the following laws (including 8 any amendment made thereby): 9 (1) This Act. 10 (2) The Coronavirus Preparedness and Re- 11 sponse Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 12 (Public Law 116–123). 13 (3) The Families First Coronavirus Response 14 Act (Public Law 116–127). 15 (4) The CARES Act (Public Law 116–136). 16 (5) The Paycheck Protection Program and 17 Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 116– 18 139). 19 (d) DAILY REPORTING.—The information to be re- 20 ported daily pursuant to subsection (a)(1) consists of the 21 following: 22 (1) Demographic characteristics, including, in a 23 de-identified, disaggregated, and stratified manner, 24 race, ethnicity, age, sex, geographic region, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8205 IH other relevant factors of individuals tested for or di- 1 agnosed with COVID–19, to the extent such infor- 2 mation is available. 3 (2) The number of adults with a confirmed case 4 of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an intensive 5 care bed. 6 (3) The number of adults with a suspected case 7 of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an intensive 8 care bed. 9 (4) The number of adults with a confirmed case 10 of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an inpatient 11 care bed. 12 (5) The number of adults with a suspected case 13 of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an inpatient 14 care bed. 15 (6) The number of children with a confirmed 16 case of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an inten- 17 sive care bed. 18 (7) The number of children with a suspected 19 case of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an inten- 20 sive care bed. 21 (8) The number of children with a confirmed 22 case of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an inpa- 23 tient care bed. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8205 IH (9) The number of children with a suspected 1 case of COVID–19 who are hospitalized in an inpa- 2 tient care bed. 3 (10) Out of the maximum number of beds for 4 which hospitals are licensed to operate, the percent- 5 age occupied by confirmed or suspected COVID–19 6 patients. 7 (11) Total staffed hospital beds. 8 (12) The numbers of diagnostic and serological 9 tests administered for COVID–19, disaggregated 10 and stratified by— 11 (A) the type of test; and 12 (B) the testing positivity rate of each type 13 of test. 14 (13) The median turnaround time for diag- 15 nostic tests stratified by molecular and antigen tests. 16 (14) The percentage of new cases of COVID– 17 19 linked to at least one other case, and if such new 18 cases are part of a known outbreak, identification of 19 such outbreak. 20 (15) The rate of transmission of COVID–19. 21 (16) The number of confirmed and probable 22 deaths as a result of COVID–19, de-identified and 23 stratified by race, ethnicity, age, sex, geographic re- 24 gion, and other relevant factors. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8205 IH (17) Such other information as the Director of 1 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2 deems to be relevant. 3 (e) WEEKLY REPORTING.—The information to be re- 4 ported weekly pursuant to subsection (a)(2) consists of the 5 following: 6 (1) New infections of health care workers not 7 confirmed to have contracted COVID–19 outside of 8 the workplace. 9 (2) The median time between collection of 10 specimens for diagnostic tests for COVID–19 and 11 isolation of cases. 12 (3) The percentage of new cases of COVID–19 13 among quarantined contacts. 14 (4) Such other information as the Director of 15 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 16 deems to be relevant. 17 (f) PUBLIC POSTING OF REPORTED DATA.—On a 18 daily basis, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 19 and Prevention shall make the information reported pur- 20 suant to this section, excluding personally identifiable in- 21 formation, publicly available on the website of the Centers 22 for Disease Control and Prevention. 23 (g) APPLICABILITY.—The condition on funding in 24 subsection (a) applies with respect to the obligation and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8205 IH expenditure by the Federal Government of funds through 1 a covered grant or cooperative agreement on or after the 2 date of enactment of this Act, including with respect to 3 covered grants and cooperative agreements awarded before 4 such date. 5 SEC. 3. PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION. 6 Subtitle C of title XXVIII of the Public Health Serv- 7 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 300hh–31 et seq.) is amended by add- 8 ing at the end the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 2823. PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SYSTEM TRANS- 10 FORMATION. 11 ‘‘(a) EXPANDING CDC AND PUBLIC HEALTH DE- 12 PARTMENT CAPABILITIES.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 14 through the Director of the Centers for Disease 15 Control and Prevention, shall— 16 ‘‘(A) conduct activities to expand, enhance, 17 and improve applicable public health data sys- 18 tems used by the Centers for Disease Control 19 and Prevention, related to the interoperability 20 and improvement of such systems (including as 21 it relates to preparedness for, prevention and 22 detection of, and response to public health 23 emergencies); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8205 IH ‘‘(B) award grants or cooperative agree- 1 ments to State, local, Tribal, or territorial pub- 2 lic health departments for the expansion and 3 modernization of public health data systems, to 4 assist public health departments in— 5 ‘‘(i) assessing current data infrastruc- 6 ture capabilities and gaps to improve and 7 increase consistency in data collection, 8 storage, and analysis and, as appropriate, 9 to improve dissemination of public health- 10 related information; 11 ‘‘(ii) improving secure public health 12 data collection, transmission, exchange, 13 maintenance, and analysis; 14 ‘‘(iii) improving the secure exchange 15 of data between the Centers for Disease 16 Control and Prevention, State, local, Trib- 17 al, and territorial public health depart- 18 ments, public health organizations, and 19 health care providers, including by public 20 health officials in multiple jurisdictions 21 within such State, as appropriate, and by 22 simplifying and supporting reporting by 23 health care providers, as applicable, pursu- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8205 IH ant to State law, including through the use 1 of health information technology; 2 ‘‘(iv) enhancing the interoperability of 3 public health data systems (including sys- 4 tems created or accessed by public health 5 departments) with health information tech- 6 nology, including with health information 7 technology certified under section 8 3001(c)(5); 9 ‘‘(v) supporting and training data sys- 10 tems, data science, and informatics per- 11 sonnel; 12 ‘‘(vi) supporting earlier disease and 13 health condition detection, such as through 14 near real-time data monitoring, to support 15 rapid public health responses; 16 ‘‘(vii) supporting activities within the 17 applicable jurisdiction related to the expan- 18 sion and modernization of electronic case 19 reporting; and 20 ‘‘(viii) developing and disseminating 21 information related to the use and impor- 22 tance of public health data. 23 ‘‘(2) DATA STANDARDS.—In carrying out para- 24 graph (1), the Secretary, acting through the Direc- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8205 IH tor of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 1 tion, shall, as appropriate and in consultation with 2 the National Coordinator for Health Information 3 Technology and the Director of the Indian Health 4 Service, designate data and technology standards 5 (including standards for interoperability) for public 6 health data systems, with deference given to stand- 7 ards published by consensus-based standards devel- 8 opment organizations with public input and vol- 9 untary consensus-based standards bodies. 10 ‘‘(3) TRIBAL CONSULTATION.—The Director of 11 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 12 National Coordinator for Health Information Tech- 13 nology, and Director of the Indian Health Service, 14 shall jointly consult with Indian Tribes and Tribal 15 organizations prior to designating the data and tech- 16 nology standards under paragraph (2). 17 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.—The 18 Secretary may develop and utilize public-private 19 partnerships for technical assistance, training, and 20 related implementation support for State, local, 21 Tribal, and territorial public health departments, 22 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 on the expansion and modernization of electronic 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8205 IH case reporting and public health data systems, as 1 applicable. 2 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 3 ‘‘(1) HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 4 STANDARDS.—The Secretary may not award a grant 5 or cooperative agreement under subsection (a)(1)(B) 6 unless the applicant uses or agrees to use standards 7 endorsed by the National Coordinator for Health In- 8 formation Technology pursuant to section 9 3001(c)(1) or adopted by the Secretary under sec- 10 tion 3004. 11 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the 12 requirement under paragraph (1) with respect to an 13 applicant if the Secretary determines that the activi- 14 ties under subsection (a)(1)(B) cannot otherwise be 15 carried out within the applicable jurisdiction. 16 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—A State, local, Tribal, or 17 territorial health department applying for a grant or 18 cooperative agreement under this section shall sub- 19 mit an application to the Secretary at such time and 20 in such manner as the Secretary may require. Such 21 application shall include information describing— 22 ‘‘(A) the activities that will be supported 23 by the grant or cooperative agreement; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:56 Sep 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8205.IH H8205 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 8205 IH ‘‘(B) how the modernization of the public 1 health data systems involved will support or im- 2 pact the public health infrastructure of the 3 health department, including a description of 4 remaining gaps, if any, and the actions needed 5 to address such gaps. 6 ‘‘(c) STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not 7 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 8 section, the Secretary, acting through the Director of the 9 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall submit 10 to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen- 11 sions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 12 Commerce of the House of Representatives a coordinated 13 strategy and an accompanying implementation plan that 14 identifies and demonstrates the measures the Secretary 15 will utilize to— 16 ‘‘(1) update and improve applicable public 17 health data systems used by the Cen [Text truncated for display. 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