II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4248 

To establish a grant program to provide funds for health care entities to 

establish or improve bias and anti-racism training to help reduce racial 

and ethnic disparities in COVID–19 testing, treatment, health outcomes, 

and vaccine access. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 21, 2020 

Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

DURBIN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BROWN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. 

BENNET, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. COONS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to provide funds for health 

care entities to establish or improve bias and anti-racism 

training to help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in 

COVID–19 testing, treatment, health outcomes, and vaccine access. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Bias and 

5 Anti-Racism Training Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BIAS AND ANTI-RACISM TRAINING GRANT PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

4 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec5 retary’’) shall award grants to hospitals; community 

6 health centers; other health care providers; State, local, 

7 territorial, and Tribal public health departments; Tribal 

8 organizations (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self9 Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

10 5304)); urban Indian organizations (as defined in section 

11 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 

12 1603)); medical, nursing, social work, and other health 

13 professional schools; and other appropriate public or pri14 vate nonprofit entities (or consortia of entities), for the 

15 purpose of supporting bias and anti-racism training to re16 duce racial and ethnic disparities in COVID–19 testing, 

17 treatment, health outcomes, and vaccine access. 

18 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 

19 subsection (a) may use such grant funds to establish a 

20 bias and anti-racism training program, or improve or ex21 pand an existing such program, in accordance with the 

22 requirements of subsection (c), for individuals who— 

23 (1) provide health care services to COVID–19 

24 patients and potential COVID–19 patients, as a 

25 physician or other health care professional, or as a 

26 medical or other health care professional student; or 


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1 (2) participate in other COVID–19 response ef2 forts, such as contact tracing. 

3 (c) TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 

5 requirements for bias and anti-racism training pro6 grams for purposes of such training carried out with 

7 grant funds awarded under this section. Such train8 ing shall be— 

9 (A) evidence-based, community-informed, 

10 patient-centered, and ongoing; 

11 (B) designed to be culturally competent 

12 and accessible, including with respect to race, 

13 ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, sex 

14 (including sexual orientation and gender iden15 tity), disability, and age; and 

16 (C) designed to allow applicable State li17 censing bodies to provide continuing education 

18 credit for completion of such training. 

19 (2) COLLABORATION.—In developing the re20 quirements described in paragraph (1), the Sec21 retary shall collaborate with relevant stakeholders 

22 that specialize in addressing health equity, includ23 ing— 

24 (A) health care professionals, including 

25 mental health professionals, and including proVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:56 Aug 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4248.IS S4248

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1 fessionals with expertise in addressing racial 

2 and ethnic disparities; 

3 (B) policy experts, including experts spe4 cializing in addressing bias and racism within 

5 the health care and public health systems; and 

6 (C) community-based organizations, in7 cluding organizations specializing in providing 

8 culturally competent care or services and ad9 dressing racial and ethnic disparities. 

10 (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec11 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 

12 described in subsection (a) that serve— 

13 (1) communities in which racial and ethnic dis14 parities in COVID–19 infection, hospitalization, in15 tensive care unit admissions, and death rates are out 

16 of proportion to the community’s population, by a 

17 threshold determined by the Secretary based on 

18 available public health data; 

19 (2) communities with disproportionately high 

20 COVID–19 infection, hospitalization, intensive care 

21 unit admissions, and death rates; or 

22 (3) communities with high social vulnerabilities 

23 to COVID–19, which may include such 

24 vulnerabilities on account of housing, nutrition, edu25 cation, economic, or environmental factors. 


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1 (e) REPORT ON GRANT IMPACT AND DISSEMINATION

2 OF BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date on which the last of the grant periods awarded under 

4 this section ends, the Secretary shall— 

5 (1) submit a report to Congress that de6 scribes— 

7 (A) the impact of the grants awarded 

8 under this section on reducing racial and ethnic 

9 disparities in COVID–19 outcomes; 

10 (B) best practices used by recipients of 

11 grants under this section; and 

12 (C) obstacles faced by recipients of grants 

13 under this section in reducing racial and ethnic 

14 disparities in COVID–19 outcomes; and 

15 (2) disseminate information on best practices 

16 used by recipients of grants under this section to in17 terested parties, including health care providers; 

18 medical and other health professional schools; rel19 evant State, local, territorial, and Tribal agencies; 

20 and the general public. 

21 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For pur22 poses of carrying out this section, there are authorized to 

23 be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

24 2020 and 2021. 

Æ 


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