To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to evaluate the Federal Government's collection and sharing of public health data to respond to public health emergencies.

This bill requires the Government Accountability Office to evaluate data collection and sharing by the federal government during public health emergencies that involve infectious disease outbreaks or biological threats (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic).

In particular, the evaluation must (1) address various matters pertaining to the authorities, policies, and tools used to collect public health data from and share it with nonfederal governments, health care providers, and other partners; and (2) compare federal data collection, sharing, and modeling during the COVID-19 pandemic with similar activities carried out by nonfederal stakeholders.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3742 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3742

To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to evaluate the 
 Federal Government's collection and sharing of public health data to 
                 respond to public health emergencies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 2023

Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Guthrie) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to evaluate the 
 Federal Government's collection and sharing of public health data to 
                 respond to public health emergencies.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. STUDY ON FEDERAL PUBLIC HEALTH DATA COLLECTION AND SHARING.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
evaluate the Federal Government's collection and sharing of public 
health data to respond to public health emergencies involving 
infectious disease outbreaks or biological threats, such as the COVID-
19 pandemic, and provide as appropriate recommendations to address the 
collection and sharing of public health data.
    (b) Topics.--The evaluation under subsection (a) shall include a 
review of what is known about--
            (1) the authorities, policies, and operational tools used 
        by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to collect public 
        health data from, and share public health data with, other 
        Federal agencies, State, local, territorial, and Tribal 
        governments, and other partners, including--
                    (A) how those authorities, policies, and tools were 
                used during the COVID-19 public health emergency;
                    (B) how Federal funds were expended for the purpose 
                of public health data collection and sharing during the 
                COVID-19 public health emergency;
                    (C) any challenges posed by redundant data 
                reporting requirements placed on State, local, 
                territorial, and Tribal governments and other partners 
                during the COVID-19 public health emergency, including 
                whether these requirements conflicted with the needs of 
                State, local, territorial, or Tribal communities or 
                other partners; and
                    (D) any publicly available resources to track how 
                public health data is being collected, shared, and used 
                with other Federal agencies, State, local, territorial, 
                and Tribal governments, and other partners;
            (2) any limitations on the authorities, policies, and tools 
        used during declared public health emergencies, including 
        throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency, that affect 
        the Federal Government's ability to respond to declared public 
        health emergencies;
            (3) any redundancy or overutilization in the authorities, 
        policies, and tools used during declared public health 
        emergencies, including throughout the COVID-19 public health 
        emergency, including whether any redundant data reporting 
        requirements conflicted with the needs of State, local, 
        territorial, or Tribal communities or other partners; and
            (4) the Federal Government's data collection, sharing, and 
        epidemiological modeling during the COVID-19 public health 
        emergency compared with the data collection, sharing, and 
        epidemiological modeling of nonprofit and private sector 
        stakeholders, including how the Secretary developed tools, or 
        used already existing tools, to collect, share, model, and 
        disseminate public health data in comparison to the development 
        of tools and use of existing tools for such purposes by the 
        nonprofit and private sectors.
    (c) Report to Congress.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit a report to the Congress on the results of the evaluation 
under subsection (a).
    (d) Definition.--In this section, the term ``other partners'' 
includes--
            (1) hospitals and physician practices;
            (2) health systems and health plans;
            (3) manufacturers and distributors; and
            (4) clinical laboratories.
                                 <all>