I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8938 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 

the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to 

establish a standardized procedure for all States to submit weekly reports 

on hospital policies and metrics related to the response to COVID– 

19, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 10, 2020 

Ms. GABBARD 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, 

acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, to establish a standardized procedure for all States to submit weekly reports on hospital 

policies and metrics related to the response to COVID– 

19, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. STANDARDIZING COVID–19 DATA REPORTING. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 


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1 of Health and Human Services, acting through the 

2 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre3 vention and in collaboration with the Administrator 

4 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

5 shall establish a standardized procedure for all 

6 States, acting through the State departments of 

7 health (or other State agencies that administer pub8 lic health programs), to submit in an electronic for9 mat, on a weekly basis, to the Secretary reports that 

10 include the information specified in paragraphs (3) 

11 and (4). 

12 (a) HOSPITAL REPORTS.—Beginning on the date 

13 that is 2 weeks after the date of the enactment of this 

14 Act, and every 2 weeks thereafter until the date that is 

15 6 months after the date on which the emergency period 

16 ends, each hospital (or affiliated facility or site thereof) 

17 that received COVID–19 response funding shall, as a con18 dition on receipt of such funding, submit to the relevant 

19 State department of health the following information re20 garding COVID–19: 

21 (1) With respect to the hospital’s (or affiliated 

22 facility or site thereof) COVID–19 caseload— 

23 (A) the total number (if greater than zero) 

24 of COVID–19 cases during the emergency pe25 riod; 


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1 (B) the number of such cases to date; 

2 (C) how many patients infected with 

3 COVID–19— 

4 (i) have been discharged; and 

5 (ii) have died (and the underlying 

6 cause, other than COVID–19, for such 

7 deaths); and 

8 (D) how many staff members of the hos9 pital (or affiliated facility or site thereof) have 

10 been infected with COVID–19 and the out11 comes from those cases. 

12 (2) With respect to testing for COVID–19 con13 ducted by the hospital (or affiliated facility or site 

14 thereof)— 

15 (A) the type of tests conducted; 

16 (B) the location where the tests are being 

17 sent for analysis; 

18 (C) the turnaround time on results of such 

19 tests; 

20 (D) the total tests performed to date; and 

21 (E) the results of such tests, disaggregated 

22 by positive, negative, or antibodies present. 

23 (3) With respect to the hospital’s (or affiliated 

24 facility or site thereof) COVID–19 surge capacity— 


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1 (A) the current bed availability in the hos2 pital (or affiliated facility or site thereof) under 

3 non-surge conditions and the availability of in4 tensive care unit beds; 

5 (B) whether the hospital (or affiliated fa6 cility or site thereof) has established or retro7 fitted new COVID–19 wards; 

8 (C) the current ventilator capacity; and 

9 (D) any other relevant statistics are deter10 mined by the Secretary. 

11 (4) With respect to personal protective equip12 ment, the current availability of all relevant personal 

13 protective equipment at the hospital (or affiliated fa14 cility or site thereof), including whether there are 

15 shortages of such equipment or other necessary 

16 treatment equipment for COVID–19. 

17 (e) HOSPITAL POLICY REPORTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that 

19 is 2 weeks after the date of the enactment of this 

20 Act, and every 2 weeks thereafter until the date that 

21 is 6 months after the date on which the emergency 

22 period ends, each hospital (or affiliated facility or 

23 site thereof) that received COVID–19 response fund24 ing shall, as a condition on receipt of such funding, 

25 maintain a standardized, comprehensive, publicly 


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1 available website detailing the hospital’s (or affili2 ated facility or site thereof) COVID–19-related poli3 cies and procedures that— 

4 (A) is available in multiple languages; 

5 (B) is published in an accessible manner; 

6 (C) is updated on a weekly basis; and 

7 (D) contains the information described in 

8 paragraph (2). 

9 (2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The informa10 tion described in this section is the following: 

11 (A) COVID–19 testing standards, policies, 

12 requirements, and criteria for patients, visitors, 

13 and staff (medical and non-medical). 

14 (B) COVID–19 infection control and pre15 vention, including personal protective equipment 

16 usage and disinfection, visitor guidance, patient 

17 placement and triage (such as procedures to 

18 isolate patients infected with COVID–19), best 

19 practices for staff, patients, and visitors, and 

20 whether staff are working both within and out21 side of COVID–19 units or wards. 

22 (C) Protocols for staff to leave from and 

23 return to work after being in contact with a 

24 COVID–19 positive case or testing positive for 

25 COVID–19. 


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1 (D) The availability of telehealth, access to 

2 services (including the rate of payment for such 

3 services). 

4 (E) Policies and procedures for surgeries 

5 unrelated to COVID–19. 

6 (F) Internal contact tracing policies, if 

7 any. 

8 (G) Any other policy the Secretary, acting 

9 through the Director, determines is applicable. 

10 (f) DATA REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 (1) DISAGGREGATION.—All data reported under 

12 this section with respect to COVID–19 patients shall 

13 be disaggregated by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and 

14 other demographic factors as may be specified by 

15 the Secretary. 

16 (2) PRIVACY.—Any information collected pursu17 ant to this section with respect to COVID–19 pa18 tients shall be de-identified and otherwise subject to 

19 all applicable Federal and State privacy laws. 

20 (g) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use to carry out 

21 this section funding made available under the third para22 graph under the heading ‘‘Department of Health and 

23 Human Services—Office of the Secretary—Public Health 

24 and Social Services Emergency Fund’’ of the CARES Act 

25 (Public Law 116–136; 134 Stat. 563). 


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1 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con3 gress’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 

5 the House of Representatives; 

6 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com7 merce of the House of Representatives; 

8 (C) the Committee on Ways and Means of 

9 the House of Representatives; 

10 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 

11 the Senate; 

12 (E) the Committee on Health, Education, 

13 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 

14 (F) the Committee on Finance of the Sen15 ate. 

16 (2) The term ‘‘COVID–19 response funding’’ 

17 means Federal funding received under— 

18 (A) the Coronavirus Preparedness and Re19 sponse Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 

20 (Public Law 116–123), or an amendment made 

21 by that Act; 

22 (B) the Families First Coronavirus Re23 sponse Act (Public Law 116–127), or an 

24 amendment made by that Act; 


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1 (C) the CARES Act (Public Law 116– 

2 136), or an amendment made by that Act; 

3 (D) the Paycheck Protection Program and 

4 Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 

5 116–139), or an amendment made by that Act; 

6 or 

7 (E) any other Federal law under which 

8 Federal assistance is provided to States and 

9 other non-Federal entities for purposes of re10 sponding to COVID–19. 

11 (3) The term ‘‘emergency period’’ has the 

12 meaning given such term in section 1135(g)(1)(B) 

13 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b– 

14 5(g)(1)(B)). 

15 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

16 of Health and Human Services, acting through the 

17 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre18 vention. 

19 (5) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

20 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

21 of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Com22 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the 

23 Virgin Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Is24 lands, and each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 

Æ 


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