To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to establish a standardized procedure for all States to submit weekly reports on hospital policies and metrics related to the response to COVID-19, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8938 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to establish a standardized procedure for all States to submit weekly reports on hospital policies and metrics related to the response to COVID– 19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 10, 2020 Ms. GABBARD 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, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to establish a standardized pro- cedure for all States to submit weekly reports on hospital policies and metrics related to the response to COVID– 19, 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. STANDARDIZING COVID–19 DATA REPORTING. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8938 IH of Health and Human Services, acting through the 1 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 2 vention and in collaboration with the Administrator 3 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 4 shall establish a standardized procedure for all 5 States, acting through the State departments of 6 health (or other State agencies that administer pub- 7 lic health programs), to submit in an electronic for- 8 mat, on a weekly basis, to the Secretary reports that 9 include the information specified in paragraphs (3) 10 and (4). 11 (a) HOSPITAL REPORTS.—Beginning on the date 12 that is 2 weeks after the date of the enactment of this 13 Act, and every 2 weeks thereafter until the date that is 14 6 months after the date on which the emergency period 15 ends, each hospital (or affiliated facility or site thereof) 16 that received COVID–19 response funding shall, as a con- 17 dition on receipt of such funding, submit to the relevant 18 State department of health the following information re- 19 garding COVID–19: 20 (1) With respect to the hospital’s (or affiliated 21 facility or site thereof) COVID–19 caseload— 22 (A) the total number (if greater than zero) 23 of COVID–19 cases during the emergency pe- 24 riod; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8938 IH (B) the number of such cases to date; 1 (C) how many patients infected with 2 COVID–19— 3 (i) have been discharged; and 4 (ii) have died (and the underlying 5 cause, other than COVID–19, for such 6 deaths); and 7 (D) how many staff members of the hos- 8 pital (or affiliated facility or site thereof) have 9 been infected with COVID–19 and the out- 10 comes from those cases. 11 (2) With respect to testing for COVID–19 con- 12 ducted by the hospital (or affiliated facility or site 13 thereof)— 14 (A) the type of tests conducted; 15 (B) the location where the tests are being 16 sent for analysis; 17 (C) the turnaround time on results of such 18 tests; 19 (D) the total tests performed to date; and 20 (E) the results of such tests, disaggregated 21 by positive, negative, or antibodies present. 22 (3) With respect to the hospital’s (or affiliated 23 facility or site thereof) COVID–19 surge capacity— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8938 IH (A) the current bed availability in the hos- 1 pital (or affiliated facility or site thereof) under 2 non-surge conditions and the availability of in- 3 tensive care unit beds; 4 (B) whether the hospital (or affiliated fa- 5 cility or site thereof) has established or retro- 6 fitted new COVID–19 wards; 7 (C) the current ventilator capacity; and 8 (D) any other relevant statistics are deter- 9 mined by the Secretary. 10 (4) With respect to personal protective equip- 11 ment, the current availability of all relevant personal 12 protective equipment at the hospital (or affiliated fa- 13 cility or site thereof), including whether there are 14 shortages of such equipment or other necessary 15 treatment equipment for COVID–19. 16 (e) HOSPITAL POLICY REPORTS.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that 18 is 2 weeks after the date of the enactment of this 19 Act, and every 2 weeks thereafter until the date that 20 is 6 months after the date on which the emergency 21 period ends, each hospital (or affiliated facility or 22 site thereof) that received COVID–19 response fund- 23 ing shall, as a condition on receipt of such funding, 24 maintain a standardized, comprehensive, publicly 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8938 IH available website detailing the hospital’s (or affili- 1 ated facility or site thereof) COVID–19-related poli- 2 cies and procedures that— 3 (A) is available in multiple languages; 4 (B) is published in an accessible manner; 5 (C) is updated on a weekly basis; and 6 (D) contains the information described in 7 paragraph (2). 8 (2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The informa- 9 tion described in this section is the following: 10 (A) COVID–19 testing standards, policies, 11 requirements, and criteria for patients, visitors, 12 and staff (medical and non-medical). 13 (B) COVID–19 infection control and pre- 14 vention, including personal protective equipment 15 usage and disinfection, visitor guidance, patient 16 placement and triage (such as procedures to 17 isolate patients infected with COVID–19), best 18 practices for staff, patients, and visitors, and 19 whether staff are working both within and out- 20 side of COVID–19 units or wards. 21 (C) Protocols for staff to leave from and 22 return to work after being in contact with a 23 COVID–19 positive case or testing positive for 24 COVID–19. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8938 IH (D) The availability of telehealth, access to 1 services (including the rate of payment for such 2 services). 3 (E) Policies and procedures for surgeries 4 unrelated to COVID–19. 5 (F) Internal contact tracing policies, if 6 any. 7 (G) Any other policy the Secretary, acting 8 through the Director, determines is applicable. 9 (f) DATA REQUIREMENTS.— 10 (1) DISAGGREGATION.—All data reported under 11 this section with respect to COVID–19 patients shall 12 be disaggregated by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and 13 other demographic factors as may be specified by 14 the Secretary. 15 (2) PRIVACY.—Any information collected pursu- 16 ant to this section with respect to COVID–19 pa- 17 tients shall be de-identified and otherwise subject to 18 all applicable Federal and State privacy laws. 19 (g) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use to carry out 20 this section funding made available under the third para- 21 graph under the heading ‘‘Department of Health and 22 Human Services—Office of the Secretary—Public Health 23 and Social Services Emergency Fund’’ of the CARES Act 24 (Public Law 116–136; 134 Stat. 563). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8938 IH (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 2 gress’’ means— 3 (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 4 the House of Representatives; 5 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com- 6 merce of the House of Representatives; 7 (C) the Committee on Ways and Means of 8 the House of Representatives; 9 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 10 the Senate; 11 (E) the Committee on Health, Education, 12 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 13 (F) the Committee on Finance of the Sen- 14 ate. 15 (2) The term ‘‘COVID–19 response funding’’ 16 means Federal funding received under— 17 (A) the Coronavirus Preparedness and Re- 18 sponse Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 19 (Public Law 116–123), or an amendment made 20 by that Act; 21 (B) the Families First Coronavirus Re- 22 sponse Act (Public Law 116–127), or an 23 amendment made by that Act; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8938 IH (C) the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 1 136), or an amendment made by that Act; 2 (D) the Paycheck Protection Program and 3 Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 4 116–139), or an amendment made by that Act; 5 or 6 (E) any other Federal law under which 7 Federal assistance is provided to States and 8 other non-Federal entities for purposes of re- 9 sponding to COVID–19. 10 (3) The term ‘‘emergency period’’ has the 11 meaning given such term in section 1135(g)(1)(B) 12 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b– 13 5(g)(1)(B)). 14 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 15 of Health and Human Services, acting through the 16 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 17 vention. 18 (5) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 19 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 20 of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Com- 21 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 22 Virgin Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Is- 23 lands, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:18 Dec 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8938.IH H8938 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS