I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7999 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to receive and respond 

to notifications of issues relating to the lack of personal protective equipment and COVID–19 testing. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 11, 2020 

Mr. BEYER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 

receive and respond to notifications of issues relating 

to the lack of personal protective equipment and 

COVID–19 testing. 

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 ‘‘Supply Chain Account5 ability Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND 

2 HUMAN SERVICES TO RECEIVE AND RE3 SPOND TO NOTIFICATIONS OF ISSUES RELAT4 ING TO THE LACK OF PERSONAL PROTEC5 TIVE EQUIPMENT AND COVID–19 TESTING. 

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

7 Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec8 retary’’) shall establish and maintain, during the emer9 gency period described in section 1135(g)(1)(B) of the So10 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)(B)), a process 

11 to receive and review the following: 

12 (1) Any notification from a health care provider 

13 that such provider is reusing personal protective 

14 equipment at a facility due to a shortage of such 

15 equipment. 

16 (2) Any notification from a local public health 

17 agency or health care provider that such agency or 

18 provider is unable, with respect to individuals seek19 ing a COVID–19 diagnostic test, to furnish such 

20 tests to all such individuals. 

21 (3) Any notification from a skilled nursing fa22 cility or nursing facility (as such terms are defined 

23 in sections 1819 and 1919, respectively, of titles 

24 XVIII and XIX, respectively, of the Social Security 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–3, 42 U.S.C. 1396r)) that 

26 such skilled nursing facility or nursing facility is unVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7999.IH H7999

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1 able to test all employees for COVID–19 at least 2 

2 times per week. 

3 (4) Any notification from a State or local public 

4 health agency that the average time between fur5 nishing a COVID–19 diagnostic test to an individual 

6 and reporting the results to such individual in the 

7 area in which such agency exercises jurisdiction ex8 ceeds 3 days from the date such test was so fur9 nished. 

10 (b) REQUIRED RESPONSE.—The Secretary shall, 

11 with respect to each notification received under subsection 

12 (a), submit to the health care provider, local public health 

13 agency, or skilled nursing facility or nursing facility that 

14 submitted such notification, and to the specified congres15 sional representatives (as defined in subsection (c)) with 

16 respect to such notification, not later than 30 days after 

17 receiving such notification, a written response that, in the 

18 case of a response to a notification described in— 

19 (1) subsection (a)(1), includes a specification of 

20 actions the Secretary is taking to provide personal 

21 protective equipment to the facility identified by the 

22 health care provider submitting such notification; 

23 (2) subsection (a)(2), includes a specification of 

24 actions the Secretary is taking to make additional 

25 COVID–19 diagnostic tests available to the local 


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1 public health agency or health care provider submit2 ting such notification; 

3 (3) subsection (a)(3), includes a specification of 

4 actions the Secretary is taking to support COVID– 

5 19 diagnostic testing at the skilled nursing facility 

6 or nursing facility submitting such notification; and 

7 (4) subsection (a)(4), includes a specification of 

8 actions the Secretary is taking to reduce the time 

9 described in such subsection. 

10 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of subsection (b), the 

11 term ‘‘specified congressional representatives’’ means, 

12 with respect to a notification described in subsection (a), 

13 both Members of the Senate representing the State, and 

14 all Members of the House of Representatives representing 

15 the district (or districts), where, in the case of a notifica16 tion— 

17 (1) described in subsection (a)(1), the facility 

18 identified by the health care provider submitting 

19 such notification is located; 

20 (2) described in subsection (a)(2), the State or 

21 local public health agency submitting such notifica22 tion exercises jurisdiction or where the health care 

23 provider practices (as identified by the provider); 


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1 (3) described in subsection (a)(3), where the 

2 State or local public health agency submitting such 

3 notification exercises jurisdiction; or 

4 (4) described in subsection (a)(4), where the 

5 skilled nursing facility or nursing facility submitting 

6 such notification is located. 

Æ 


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