II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4507 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national campaign 

to raise awareness of the importance of seeking preventive health services 

and the utilization of such services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2020 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 

a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance 

of seeking preventive health services and the utilization 

of such services. 

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 ‘‘Getting Early Treat5 ment and Comprehensive Assessments Reduces Emer6 gencies Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘GET CARE Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVING AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF PRE2 VENTIVE CARE TO REDUCE DISEASE, ILL3 NESS, AND OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS. 

4 Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 320B. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON THE IM8 PORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE CARE SERVICES. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

10 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre11 vention and other offices and agencies, as appropriate, 

12 shall award competitive grants to one or more public or 

13 private entities to carry out a national, evidence-based 

14 campaign to increase awareness of the importance of rec15 ommended preventive care services for the prevention and 

16 control of diseases and illness during the COVID–19 pan17 demic, combat misinformation about seeking preventive 

18 care during the COVID–19 pandemic, reiterate the safety 

19 of health care facilities, emphasize the availability of in20 person and virtual preventative care, and disseminate sci21 entific and evidence-based, preventive care-related infor22 mation, with the goal of increasing the number of individ23 uals of all ages seeking recommended preventive care, as 

24 applicable, particularly in medically underserved commu25 nities, communities of color, and communities dispropor26 tionately impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic. 


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1 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the campaign 

2 under this section, the Secretary shall consult with appro3 priate public health and health care experts, including the 

4 United States Preventive Services Task Force and medical 

5 and public health associations and nonprofit organiza6 tions, in the development, implementation, and evaluation 

7 of the evidence-based public awareness campaign. 

8 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The campaign under this sec9 tion— 

10 ‘‘(1) shall be a national, evidence-based initia11 tive; 

12 ‘‘(2) may include the use of television, radio, 

13 the internet, and other telecommunications tech14 nologies; 

15 ‘‘(3) may be focused to address specific needs 

16 of communities that are medically underserved, com17 munities of color, communities disproportionately 

18 impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic, or other com19 munities as appropriate; 

20 ‘‘(4) shall include the development of resources 

21 for medically underserved communities, including 

22 culturally and linguistically appropriate resources; 

23 ‘‘(5) shall include the dissemination of informa24 tion about recommended preventive care services to 

25 health care providers and health care facilities, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:18 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4507.IS S4507

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1 cluding tools for providers to communicate with pa2 tients about those services; 

3 ‘‘(6) shall be complementary to, and coordi4 nated with, any other Federal efforts and State ef5 forts, as appropriate; 

6 ‘‘(7) shall assess the effectiveness of commu7 nication strategies to increase the use of preventive 

8 care services; and 

9 ‘‘(8) may include the dissemination of scientific 

10 and evidence-based preventive care services informa11 tion to providers, patients, and other stakeholders, 

12 such as— 

13 ‘‘(A) advancements in evidence-based re14 search related to diseases, illnesses, and other 

15 medical conditions that may be mitigated by 

16 preventive care services; 

17 ‘‘(B) information on preventive care for in18 dividuals and communities, 

19 ‘‘(C) information on diseases, illnesses, and 

20 other medical conditions that may be prevented 

21 by preventive care; 

22 ‘‘(D) information on preventive care and 

23 the systems in place to monitor the safety of 

24 providing preventive care during and after the 

25 COVID–19 pandemic; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) information on the relative risk of ac2 cessing care during the COVID–19 pandemic 

3 versus forgoing preventive care. 

4 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall— 

5 ‘‘(1) establish benchmarks and metrics to quan6 titatively measure and evaluate the awareness cam7 paign under this section; 

8 ‘‘(2) conduct qualitative assessments regarding 

9 the awareness campaign under this section; and 

10 ‘‘(3) prepare and submit to the Committee on 

11 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen12 ate and Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

13 House of Representatives an evaluation of the 

14 awareness campaign under this section.’’. 

15 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO ADDRESS DISEASES, ILLNESSES, AND 

16 MEDICAL CONDITIONS WHERE REGULAR 

17 PREVENTIVE CARE CAN IMPROVE HEALTH 

18 OUTCOMES. 

19 Section 317(k) of the Public Health Service Act (42 

20 U.S.C. 247b(k)) is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 

22 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 

23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(3) The Secretary may make grants to States, polit2 ical subdivisions of States, and other public and nonprofit 

3 private entities for— 

4 ‘‘(A) planning, implementation, and evaluation 

5 of activities to address diseases, illnesses, and med6 ical conditions where regular preventive care can im7 prove health outcomes, including activities to— 

8 ‘‘(i) identify medically underserved commu9 nities with reduced access to or utilization of 

10 recommended preventive care services, commu11 nities of color, and communities disproportion12 ately impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic; 

13 ‘‘(ii) pilot innovative approaches to improve 

14 the utilization of recommended preventive care 

15 services in medically underserved communities 

16 with reduced access to or utilization of such 

17 services among communities of color and com18 munities disproportionately impacted by the 

19 COVID–19 pandemic; 

20 ‘‘(iii) reduce barriers to accessing preven21 tive care, information on how to safely access 

22 care during the COVID–19 pandemic, and in23 formation about health benefits of seeking pre24 ventive care; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) partner with community organiza2 tions, health care providers, public health orga3 nizations, local health departments, and other 

4 stakeholders to develop and deliver evidence5 based interventions to increase the usage of rec6 ommended preventive care; and 

7 ‘‘(v) improve delivery of evidence-based 

8 preventive care-related information to the pub9 lic; and 

10 ‘‘(B) research related to strategies for improv11 ing awareness of scientific and evidence-based, pre12 ventive care-related information, including for medi13 cally underserved communities with reduced access 

14 to or utilization of preventive care, for communities 

15 of color, and in communities disproportionately im16 pacted by the COVID–19 pandemic, in order to un17 derstand barriers to preventive care, improve the uti18 lization of recommended preventive care services, 

19 and assess the public health outcomes of such strate20 gies.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

23 section 320B of the Public Health Service Act, as added 

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1 ed by section 3, such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

2 years 2020 through 2024. 

Æ 


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