II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5162 

To provide for a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

and Medicine on the potential benefits on population health outcomes 

of incorporating into the Federal legislative process tools that measure 

the impacts of proposed legislation (including in areas outside of health 

care) on health and health disparities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 1, 2022 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BENNET, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for a study by the National Academies of 

Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the potential 

benefits on population health outcomes of incorporating 

into the Federal legislative process tools that measure 

the impacts of proposed legislation (including in areas 

outside of health care) on health and health disparities, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Assessing Health Eval3 uations to Advance Decision-making Act of 2022’’ or the 

4 ‘‘AHEAD Act of 2022’’. 

5 SEC. 2. STUDY TO ASSESS THE VALUE OF USING TOOLS TO 

6 MEASURE THE IMPACTS OF PROPOSED FED7 ERAL LEGISLATION ON HEALTH AND HEALTH 

8 DISPARITIES. 

9 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

10 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 

11 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec12 retary’’) shall enter into an arrangement with the National 

13 Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (re14 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘National Academies’’) (or, 

15 if the National Academies decline to enter into such ar16 rangement, with another appropriate entity such as the 

17 National Academy of Public Administration) under which 

18 the National Academies (or other appropriate entity) will 

19 complete a study— 

20 (1) to examine the potential benefits on popu21 lation health outcomes of incorporating into the Fed22 eral legislative process tools that measure the im23 pacts of proposed legislation (including in areas out24 side of health care) on health and health disparities; 


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1 (2) to formulate recommendations on inte2 grating such tools into the Federal legislative proc3 ess to achieve better population health outcomes; 

4 (3) to formulate recommendations on how be5 havioral and nudge research on the effects of health 

6 disparities may translate into evaluative tools for 

7 policymakers; and 

8 (4) to consider, with input from the Comp9 troller General of the United States, the Director of 

10 the Congressional Budget Office, and the Director of 

11 the Congressional Research Service, how such tools 

12 could be incorporated into the Federal legislative 

13 process. 

14 (b) TOOLS TO BE CONSIDERED.—The tools consid15 ered under the study under subsection (a) shall include 

16 health impact assessments, and may include any other 

17 tools of analysis, particularly such tools related to impacts 

18 on health and health disparities. 

19 (c) SPECIFIC POPULATIONS TO BE CONSIDERED.— 

20 The study under subsection (a) shall consider the impacts 

21 described in such subsection on health and health dispari22 ties within specific populations, including racial and ethnic 

23 minority groups (as defined in section 1707(g) of the Pub24 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–6(g))), youth, 

25 women, older adults, sexual and gender minorities, individVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Dec 02, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5162.IS S5162

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1 uals living in rural communities, individuals living in rural 

2 Tribal or urban Indian communities, individuals living in 

3 regions with persistent poverty, individuals with co-morbid 

4 conditions, individuals with disabilities, individuals who 

5 are homeless, and individuals involved with the criminal 

6 justice system, among others. 

7 (d) CONGRESSIONAL AND REGULATORY PROCESS

8 OPTIONS.—The study under subsection (a) shall consider 

9 how assessments of potential population health outcomes 

10 could be incorporated into Federal legislative and regu11 latory processes, including by evaluating options with re12 spect to— 

13 (1) methodological tools for evaluating evi14 dentiary standards across multiple disciplines and 

15 the potential benefits and negative effects of a pro16 posed policy; 

17 (2) the processes and considerations for pre18 paring a population health outcomes report, includ19 ing time, resources, community consultation, and 

20 competencies required to review relevant scientific 

21 literature; 

22 (3) entities that conduct population health out23 comes reports by comparing the experiences of State 

24 and local jurisdictions that have incorporated health 


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1 impacts assessments in legislative or regulatory 

2 processes; and 

3 (4) potential uses of a population health out4 comes report in the Federal legislative and regu5 latory processes. 

6 (e) REPORT.—The arrangement under subsection (a) 

7 shall provide for the submission of a report on the results 

8 of the study under such subsection, not later than 30 

9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, to the 

10 Secretary, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

11 and Pensions of the Senate, and the Committee on Energy 

12 and Commerce of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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