Personal Protective Equipment for Home Health Care Workers Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9031 To amend title XVIII and XIX of the Social Security to require home health agencies to provide personal protective equipment to workers and submit related reports, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 18, 2020 Ms. MOORE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII and XIX of the Social Security to require home health agencies to provide personal protec- tive equipment to workers and submit related reports, 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 ‘‘Personal Protective 4 Equipment for Home Health Care Workers Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9031 IH SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR HOME HEALTH AGENCIES TO 1 PROVIDE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIP- 2 MENT TO WORKERS AND SUBMIT RELATED 3 REPORTS. 4 (a) UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM.—Section 5 1895 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff) is 6 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 7 section: 8 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE 9 EQUIPMENT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to home 11 health services furnished during the period begin- 12 ning on the date of the enactment of this subsection 13 and ending on the last day of the emergency period 14 described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) by a home health 15 agency— 16 ‘‘(A) no claim for such a service may be 17 paid under this title, unless the home health 18 agency— 19 ‘‘(i) attests to the Secretary it has 20 provided or will provide personal protective 21 equipment to individuals working for the 22 agency at no cost to the individual during 23 such period; and 24 ‘‘(ii) so provides personal protective 25 equipment to individuals working for the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9031 IH agency at no cost to the individual during 1 such period; and 2 ‘‘(B) in the case the Secretary finds the 3 home health agency is not in compliance with 4 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1), 5 no claim for any such service may be paid 6 under this title to the home health agency dur- 7 ing the period that— 8 ‘‘(i) begins on the first day of such 9 noncompliance; and 10 ‘‘(ii) ending on the earlier of— 11 ‘‘(I) the last day of the 60-day 12 period after the home health agency is 13 in compliance with such subpara- 14 graphs; and 15 ‘‘(II) the day that is 10 days 16 after the last day of the emergency 17 period described in section 18 1135(g)(1)(B). 19 ‘‘(2) REPORTS.—With respect to home health 20 services furnished by a home health agency, no claim 21 for such a service may be paid under this title, un- 22 less the home health agency submits to the Sec- 23 retary— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9031 IH ‘‘(A) not later than 45 days after the en- 1 actment of this subsection, an initial report that 2 specifies the number of deaths of individuals 3 working for the agency during the period begin- 4 ning on the first date of the emergency period 5 described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) and ending 6 on the date such report is submitted, disaggre- 7 gated by week; and 8 ‘‘(B) reports to be submitted on a schedule 9 to be determined by the Secretary that specify 10 the number of deaths of individuals working for 11 the agency during the preceding 7-day period 12 through the last day of such emergency pe- 13 riod.’’. 14 (b) UNDER STATE MEDICAID PROGRAMS.—Section 15 1903(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b(i)) 16 is amended— 17 (1) in paragraph (26), by striking at the end 18 ‘‘or’’; 19 (2) by inserting after paragraph (27) the fol- 20 lowing new paragraphs: 21 ‘‘(28) for home health services furnished during 22 the period beginning on the date of the enactment 23 of this subsection and ending on the last day of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 9031 IH emergency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) 1 by a home health agency— 2 ‘‘(A) unless the home health agency— 3 ‘‘(i) attests to the Secretary it has 4 provided or will provide personal protective 5 equipment to individuals working for the 6 agency at no cost to the individual during 7 such period; and 8 ‘‘(ii) so provides personal protective 9 equipment to individuals working for the 10 agency at no cost to the individual during 11 such period; and 12 ‘‘(B) for home health services furnished by 13 a home health agency in the case the Secretary 14 finds the home health agency is not in compli- 15 ance with clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph 16 (A) for the period that— 17 ‘‘(i) begins on the first day of such 18 noncompliance; and 19 ‘‘(ii) ending on the earlier of— 20 ‘‘(I) the last day of the 60-day 21 period after the home health agency is 22 in compliance with such subpara- 23 graphs; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 9031 IH ‘‘(II) the day that is 10 days 1 after the last day of the emergency 2 period described in section 3 1135(g)(1)(B); or 4 ‘‘(29) for home health services furnished by a 5 home health agency, unless the home health agency 6 submits to the Secretary— 7 ‘‘(A) not later than 45 days after the date 8 of the enactment of this paragraph, an initial 9 report that specifies the number of deaths of in- 10 dividuals working for the agency during the pe- 11 riod beginning on the first date of the emer- 12 gency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) 13 and ending on the date such report is sub- 14 mitted, disaggregated by week; and 15 ‘‘(B) reports to be submitted on a schedule 16 to be determined by the Secretary that specify 17 the number of deaths of individuals working for 18 the agency during the preceding 7-day period 19 through the last day of such emergency pe- 20 riod.’’. 21 (c) UNDER THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERV- 22 ICES EMERGENCY FUND.—Any home health agency (as 23 defined in section 1861(o) of the Social Security Act (42 24 U.S.C. 1395x(o)) that has received funding under the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 9031 IH ‘‘PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES EMER- 1 GENCY FUND’’ pursuant to title VIII of division B of 2 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act 3 (Public Law 116–136) or the first paragraph of title I 4 of division B of the Paycheck Protection Program and 5 Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 116–139) be- 6 fore the date of the enactment of this Act and does not 7 comply with the requirements described in clauses (i) and 8 (ii) of paragraph (1)(A) and paragraph (2) of section 9 1895(f) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395fff(f)) 10 may not receive any additional funding under the ‘‘PUB- 11 LIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES EMER- 12 GENCY FUND’’ until the date that the home health 13 agency is in compliance with such requirements. 14 (d) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE REPORTS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 16 the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 17 make the reports required under sections 1895(f)(2) 18 and 1903(i)(29) of the Social Security Act (42 19 U.S.C. 1395fff(f)(2); 1396b(i)(29)) and information 20 contained therein available to the public on the 21 Internet website of the Centers for Medicare & Med- 22 icaid Services in a searchable format. 23 (2) HIPAA COMPLIANT INFORMATION ONLY; 24 PRIVACY FOR INDIVIDUAL WORKERS.—The Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 9031 IH retary may only make available the information de- 1 scribed in paragraph (1) to the extent permitted 2 under the Federal regulations (concerning the pri- 3 vacy of individually identifiable health information) 4 promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health In- 5 surance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 6 and that prevents the identification of individual 7 workers. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9031.IH H9031 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS