I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8811 

To initiate an inquiry and report on COVID–19 data quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis and develop a process to correct inaccurate 

information reported with respect to the COVID–19 public health emergency, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 24, 2020 

Ms. FINKENAUER (for herself, Mr. LOEBSACK, and Mrs. AXNE) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce 

A BILL 

To initiate an inquiry and report on COVID–19 data quality, 

sharing, transparency, access, and analysis and develop 

a process to correct inaccurate information reported with 

respect to the COVID–19 public health emergency, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Data Accu5 racy Act’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 8811 IH

1 SEC. 2. PROTECTING DATA QUALITY, SHARING, TRANS2 PARENCY, ACCESS, AND ANALYSIS. 

3 (a) INQUIRY AND SUBMISSION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 7 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp6 troller General shall initiate an inquiry into any 

7 changes or interruptions in data quality, sharing, 

8 transparency, access, and analysis or access to rel9 evant analytics resulting from the changes to 

10 COVID–19 hospital data reporting requirements ini11 tiated by the White House Coronavirus Task Force 

12 and the Department of Health and Human Services 

13 on July 13, 2020. 

14 (2) SUBMISSION OF FINDINGS.—Not later than 

15 45 days after initiation of an inquiry under para16 graph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit 

17 findings with respect to such inquiry to the Com18 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

19 Representatives, the Committee on Health, Edu20 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the 

21 Department of Health and Human Services, in oral 

22 briefings, which shall address— 

23 (A) any changes or interruptions described 

24 in paragraph (1), including whether such 

25 changes increased, decreased, expedited, or de26 layed the data quality, sharing, transparency, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 8811 IH

1 access, and analysis or access to relevant ana2 lytics, with respect to— 

3 (i) the public; 

4 (ii) State, local, Tribal, and territorial 

5 health departments; 

6 (iii) hospitals; and 

7 (iv) Federal agency officials, including 

8 officials in the Department of Health and 

9 Human Services and Centers for Disease 

10 Control and Prevention; and 

11 (B) any impact to, or interruptions in, de12 livery of supplies, including personal protective 

13 equipment, ventilators, and COVID–19 thera14 peutics, to States or other entities resulting 

15 from any changes or interruptions described in 

16 paragraph (1). 

17 (b) ACCESS TO REPORTING SYSTEM.—The Secretary 

18 shall, not later than 7 days after the date of enactment 

19 of this Act, provide the Comptroller General with access 

20 to the information technology systems maintained by the 

21 Department of Health and Human Services to enable the 

22 Comptroller General to independently access, view, 

23 download, and retrieve data from such systems for the 

24 purpose of carrying out this section. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 8811 IH

1 (c) ADDRESSING ISSUES.—Not later than 7 days 

2 after the Comptroller General submits the findings to Con3 gress pursuant to subsection (a)(2), the Secretary shall— 

4 (1) correct any decreases or delays identified by 

5 the Comptroller General in the findings; 

6 (2) address issues with respect to data quality, 

7 sharing, transparency, access, and analysis and ac8 cess to relevant analytics; and 

9 (3) ensure that such data quality, sharing, 

10 transparency, access, and analysis and access to rel11 evant analytics are equal to or better than they were 

12 as of July 12, 2020. 

13 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

15 shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

16 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

17 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a 

18 report on the impact of changes or interruptions to 

19 COVID–19 hospital data reporting requirements described 

20 in subsection (a). In preparing such report, the Comp21 troller General shall collect information from relevant 

22 stakeholders, as appropriate. Such report shall— 

23 (1) detail any such changes or interruptions to 

24 data quality, sharing, transparency, access, and 

25 analysis, or access to relevant analytics, for the entiVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:38 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8811.IH H8811

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 8811 IH

1 ties described in subsection (a)(2)(A), including 

2 whether such changes or interruptions increased, de3 creased, expedited, or delayed such data or access to 

4 relevant analytics; 

5 (2) describe challenges faced by hospitals, 

6 States, localities, Indian Tribes (as defined in sec7 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu8 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), Urban In9 dian organizations (as defined in section 4 of the In10 dian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 

11 1603)), territories, Federal agencies, and the public 

12 resulting from such changes or interruptions; 

13 (3) describe the extent to which such changes 

14 or interruptions may allow for manipulation of such 

15 data in a manner that results in the entities de16 scribed in paragraph (2) receiving information that 

17 is different from information provided to the Depart18 ment of Health and Human Services; 

19 (4) assess the extent to which such changes or 

20 interruptions increased or decreased the number of 

21 hospitals reporting data and the completeness and 

22 quality of data reported by hospitals; 

23 (5) determine whether any States deployed the 

24 National Guard to assist in hospital data reporting 

25 (as suggested in communications from the White 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 8811 IH

1 House Coronavirus Task Force and the Department 

2 of Health and Human Services on July 13, 2020) 

3 and whether any such deployment had a measurable 

4 effect on the speed, content, or quality of such re5 porting; 

6 (6) describe the decision-making process within 

7 the Department of Health and Human Services that 

8 led to the changes initiated on July 13, 2020, in9 cluding— 

10 (A) the role of the Centers for Disease 

11 Control and Prevention in such process; 

12 (B) any analysis conducted by the Depart13 ment of Health and Human Services or the 

14 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

15 that assessed the quality and completeness of 

16 different data streams (including the National 

17 Healthcare Safety Network, TeleTracking, and 

18 data reported by States to the Protect System 

19 of the Department of Health and Human Serv20 ices), prior to July 13, 2020; 

21 (C) any external input into the decision22 making process, including from other Federal 

23 agencies, States, localities, Indian Tribes (as 

24 defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter25 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 8811 IH

1 U.S.C. 5304)), Urban Indian organizations (as 

2 defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care 

3 Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603)), terri4 tories, or hospitals; 

5 (D) the public health justification for the 

6 changes; and 

7 (E) any other justification for such 

8 changes; and 

9 (7) assess the process used to address— 

10 (A) decreases or delays identified under 

11 subsection (c)(1); and 

12 (B) issues described in subsection (c)(2). 

13 (e) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 6 months 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp15 troller General shall submit to the Committee on Energy 

16 and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the 

17 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

18 the Senate an interim report on the initial findings with 

19 respect to information required to be in the report under 

20 subsection (d). 

21 SEC. 3. CORRECTING INACCURACIES. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, in 

24 coordination with the Director of the Centers for Disease 

25 Control and Prevention and reporting entities, develop a 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 8811 IH

1 process to correct inaccurate information collected, re2 ported, or distributed with respect to the COVID–19 pub3 lic health emergency declared pursuant to section 319 of 

4 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d). 

5 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The process under subsection 

6 (a) shall— 

7 (1) identify and correct inaccurate information 

8 in a timely manner; 

9 (2) consider data made available by— 

10 (A) the Department of Health and Human 

11 Services and the Centers for Disease Control 

12 and Prevention; and 

13 (B) reporting entities (including data pro14 vided to the Secretary in accordance with the 

15 State plans referred to in subsection (e)); 

16 (3) permit the public to report on inaccurate in17 formation described in subsection (a); and 

18 (4) include technical assistance, as necessary, 

19 for reporting entities. 

20 (c) PUBLIC NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall, in 

21 a manner that protects personally identifiable information 

22 from disclosure and complies with applicable Federal law 

23 on privacy— 

24 (1) in a timely manner, notify the public of— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 8811 IH

1 (A) inaccurate information identified pur2 suant to the process developed under subsection 

3 (a); and 

4 (B) the steps used to correct the inac5 curate information; and 

6 (2) after notifying the public under paragraph 

7 (1), in a reasonable period of time, make a public 

8 certification that such inaccurate information has 

9 been corrected. 

10 (d) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 30 days after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue 

12 guidance to reporting entities with respect to identifying 

13 and correcting inaccurate information described in sub14 section (a) in the data collected, reported, or distributed 

15 by such agencies. Such guidance shall include a method— 

16 (1) to notify the Secretary when such inac17 curate information is identified; and 

18 (2) to collaborate with the Secretary to correct 

19 and notify the public of such inaccurate information 

20 in accordance with subsection (c). 

21 (e) STATE PLANS.—Not later than 60 days after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall re23 quire each State that submitted to the Secretary a 

24 COVID–19 testing plan under the heading ‘‘Public Health 

25 and Social Services Emergency Fund’’ in title I of division 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 8811 IH

1 B of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care 

2 Enhancement Act (Public Law 116–139) to update the 

3 plan to include a process for correcting inaccurate infor4 mation described in subsection (a) based on the guidance 

5 issued under subsection (d). 

6 (f) REPORTS.— 

7 (1) PRELIMINARY REPORTS.—Not later than 90 

8 days after the date of the enactment this Act, and 

9 every 30 days thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 

10 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

11 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

12 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen13 ate a preliminary report on— 

14 (A) the inaccurate information that is cor15 rected the most through the process developed 

16 under subsection (a); and 

17 (B) best practices for identifying, cor18 recting, and notifying the public of such inac19 curate information. 

20 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 3 months 

21 after the end of the public health emergency de22 scribed in subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit 

23 to the committees referred to in paragraph (1) a 

24 final report on— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 8811 IH

1 (A) the inaccurate information described in 

2 paragraph (1)(A); and 

3 (B) the effectiveness of the process devel4 oped under subsection (a) to address such inac5 curate information. 

6 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term 

9 ‘‘Comptroller General’’ means the Comptroller Gen10 eral of the United States. 

11 (2) REPORTING ENTITIES.—The term ‘‘report12 ing entities’’ means State, territorial, and local 

13 health departments, hospitals, and any other entity 

14 that either directly or indirectly reports information 

15 to the Secretary with respect to the COVID–19 pub16 lic health emergency declared pursuant to section 

17 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

18 247d). 

19 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS