A bill introduced May 12 in the U.S. House of Representatives calls for a transformation of the public health data system. The bill would provide $130 million for public health data surveillance and analytics infrastructure modernization.
Among other things, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act calls for the creation of a national system for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, surveillance, containment and mitigation.
To support such an effort, the bill calls on the Secretary of the Health & Human Services, in consultation with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, to designate data and technology standards for public health data systems, as well as for the expansion and modernization of electronic case reporting.
In addition to data sharing, the bill would require HHS to establish a core public health infrastructure program consisting of awarding grants for the purpose of addressing core public health infrastructure needs. Grants would be awarded to each State health department, and could be awarded on a competitive basis to State, local, Tribal, or territorial health departments. Of the total amount of funds awarded as grants under this subsection for a fiscal year, not less than 50 percent shall be for grants to State health departments and not less than 30 percent shall be for grants to State, local, Tribal, or territorial health departments.
The bill would require the Secretary of Health & Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to expand, enhance, and improve applicable public health data systems used by the CDC and “award grants or cooperative agreements to State, local, Tribal, or territorial public health departments for the expansion and modernization of public health data systems. One goal is to assist public health departments in assessing current data infrastructure capabilities and gaps to improve and increase consistency in data collection, storage, and analysis and, as appropriate, to improve dissemination of public health-related information, and improving secure public health data collection, transmission, exchange, maintenance, and analysis.
Addressing Inequities in Data Gathering
The bill also would require HHS to focus on health inequities in data gathering. It states that not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with State, local, and territorial health departments, shall complete field studies to better understand health inequities that are not currently tracked by the Secretary. Such studies shall include an analysis of the impact of socioeconomic status on health care access and disease outcomes, including COVID–19 outcomes; the impact of disability status on healthcare access and disease outcomes, including COVID– 22 19 outcomes; and the impact of language preference on healthcare access and disease outcomes, including COVID– 25 19 outcomes.
The language of the bill states that “not later than six months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall award grants to State, local, and territorial health departments in order to support the modernization of data collection methods and infrastructure for the purposes of increasing data related to health inequities, such as racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, sex, gender, and disability disparities.”
The bill would require the secretary to provide guidance, technical assistance, and information to grantees under this section on best practices regarding culturally competent, accurate, and increased data collection and transmission; and track performance of grantees under this section to help improve their health inequities data collection by identifying gaps and taking effective steps to support States, localities, and territories in addressing the gaps
In addition, the bill calls for the development of a public health accreditation program that would create and periodically review and update standards for voluntary accreditation of State, local, Tribal, and territorial health departments and public health laboratories for the purpose of advancing the quality and performance of such departments and laboratories; and implement a program to accredit such health departments and laboratories in accordance with such standards.
The Secretary of HHS could enter into a cooperative agreement with a private nonprofit entity to carry out the program.
The bill also would provide more than $2 billion in funding to help the Indian Health Services respond to COVID-19, including $1 billion to supplement reduced third-party revenue collection, with $500 million to be used for direct health and telehealth services, including to purchase supplies and personal protective equipment; The bill calls for $140,000,000 to be used to expand broadband infrastructure and information technology for telehealth and electronic health record system purposes at the Indian Health Services.
