Vital STATS Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8444 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, and Federal agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 Mr. TAYLOR (for himself and Ms. SHALALA) introduced 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, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Vital Standardization of Thoughtful Administrative 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8444.IH H8444 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8444 IH Techniques and Statistics Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘Vital 1 STATS Act of 2020’’. 2 (b) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 3 findings: 4 (1) Pandemic and highly infectious diseases 5 have the ability to rapidly cross international and 6 State boundaries, can infect millions of individuals 7 in the United States, and have the potential to se- 8 verely disrupt interstate commerce. 9 (2) During the outbreak of COVID–19, the dis- 10 ease substantially affected interstate commerce and 11 touched all 50 States, the District of Columbia, the 12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States 13 Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the 14 Northern Mariana Islands. 15 (3) The COVID–19 pandemic in the United 16 States highlights the necessity of accurate and time- 17 ly vital statistics and death reporting for a success- 18 ful public health response. 19 (4) Variations between means and methods of 20 vital statistics reporting between State, local, and 21 Federal entities can create administrative hurdles, 22 including potential backlogs, and could hamper pub- 23 lic health response efforts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8444.IH H8444 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8444 IH (5) In order for the Nation to combat future 1 health emergencies, to improve our general under- 2 standing of health problems in the United States, 3 and to ensure the sharing of timely, accurate health 4 information, the Federal Government, State govern- 5 ments, and local units of government must improve 6 their means of coordinating and sharing health in- 7 formation and vital statistics. 8 SEC. 2. STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF VITAL STATISTICS 9 REPORTING. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 11 Human Services shall enter into an agreement with the 12 National Academy of Medicine under which the National 13 Academy agrees to conduct a one-year study assessing the 14 effectiveness of current vital statistics reporting and data 15 sharing between State, local, and Federal agencies and the 16 degree to which there is divergence between State, local, 17 and Federal vital statistics reporting. 18 (b) REPORT.—The agreement entered into under 19 subsection (a) shall require the National Academy of Med- 20 icine to, not later 1 year after the date on which the agree- 21 ment is entered into, to submit to Congress a report con- 22 taining the findings of the study conducted pursuant to 23 such subsection. Such report shall include recommenda- 24 tions with respect to— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8444.IH H8444 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8444 IH (1) coordination and standardization of State, 1 local, and Federal vital statistics reporting methods, 2 including the efficiency, effectiveness, and trans- 3 parency of such reporting; and 4 (2) the feasibility of setting national standards 5 for death reporting and collecting vital statistics. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:36 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8444.IH H8444 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS