II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1793 

To establish a grant program for the purpose of public health data system 

modernization. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 12, 2019 

Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. ISAKSON, and Mr. KING) 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 for the purpose of public 

health data system modernization. 

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 ‘‘Saving Lives Through 

5 Better Data Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SYSTEM MODERNIZATION. 

7 Subtitle C of title XXVIII of the Public Health Serv8 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 300hh–31 et seq.) is amended by add9 ing at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 2822. PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SYSTEM MODERNIZA2 TION GRANTS. 

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

4 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre5 vention, shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) award grants to State, local, Tribal, and 

7 territorial public health departments for the expan8 sion and modernization of public health data sys9 tems, to assist public health departments in— 

10 ‘‘(A) improving secure public health data 

11 collection, transmission, exchange, maintenance, 

12 and analysis; 

13 ‘‘(B) simplifying reporting by health care 

14 providers, as applicable, pursuant to State law, 

15 including through the use of health information 

16 technology, to State, local, Tribal, and terri17 torial public health departments, including pub18 lic health officials in multiple jurisdictions with19 in such State, as appropriate; 

20 ‘‘(C) enhancing interoperability of current 

21 public health data systems with health informa22 tion technology, including certified health infor23 mation technology; 

24 ‘‘(D) supporting earlier disease and health 

25 condition detection for public health responses; 

26 and 


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1 ‘‘(E) supporting activities within the appli2 cable jurisdiction related to the expansion and 

3 modernization of electronic case reporting; 

4 ‘‘(2) conduct activities related to the interoper5 ability and improvement of applicable public health 

6 data systems used by the Centers for Disease Con7 trol and Prevention, as appropriate; and 

8 ‘‘(3) develop and utilize public-private partner9 ships for technical assistance and related implemen10 tation support for State, local, Tribal, and territorial 

11 public health departments, and the Centers for Dis12 ease Control and Prevention, on the expansion and 

13 modernization of electronic case reporting and public 

14 health data systems, as applicable. 

15 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not 

17 award a grant under subsection (a)(1) unless the ap18 plicant supports standards endorsed by the National 

19 Coordinator for Health Information Technology pur20 suant to section 3001(c)(1) or adopted by the Sec21 retary under section 3004. 

22 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the 

23 requirement under paragraph (1) with respect to an 

24 applicant if the Secretary determines that the activiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1793.IS S1793

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1 ties under subsection (a) cannot otherwise be carried 

2 out within the applicable jurisdiction. 

3 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity receiving a grant 

4 under this section may use amounts received under such 

5 grant for one or both of the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Carrying out activities described in sub7 section (a)(1) to support public health data systems 

8 (including electronic case reporting), which may in9 clude support for, and training of, professionals with 

10 expertise in contributing to and using such systems. 

11 ‘‘(2) Developing and disseminating information 

12 related to the use and importance of public health 

13 data. 

14 ‘‘(d) STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not 

15 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the 

16 Saving Lives Through Better Data Act, the Secretary, 

17 acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease 

18 Control and Prevention, shall submit to the Committee on 

19 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 

20 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

21 of Representatives, a coordinated strategy and an accom22 panying implementation plan that identifies and dem23 onstrates the steps the Secretary will carry out to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) update and improve applicable public 

2 health data systems used by the Centers for Disease 

3 Control and Prevention; and 

4 ‘‘(2) carry out the activities described in this 

5 section to support the improvement of State, local, 

6 Tribal, and territorial public health data systems. 

7 ‘‘(e) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary, acting through 

8 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre9 vention, shall consult with States, local, Tribal, and terri10 torial health departments, professional medical and public 

11 health associations, health information technology experts, 

12 and other appropriate entities regarding the plan and 

13 grant program to modernize public health data systems 

14 pursuant to this section. Such activities may include the 

15 provision of technical assistance related to the exchange 

16 of information by such public health data systems used 

17 by relevant health care and public health entities at the 

18 local, State, Federal, Tribal, and territorial levels. 

19 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than one 

20 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec21 retary shall submit a report to the Committee on Health, 

22 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the 

23 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

24 Representatives that includes— 

25 ‘‘(1) a description of any barriers to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) public health authorities imple2 menting electronic case reporting and interoper3 able public health data systems; or 

4 ‘‘(B) the exchange of information pursuant 

5 to electronic case reporting; 

6 ‘‘(2) an assessment of the potential public 

7 health impact of implementing electronic case re8 porting and interoperable public health data sys9 tems; and 

10 ‘‘(3) a description of the activities carried out 

11 pursuant to this section. 

12 ‘‘(g) ELECTRONIC CASE REPORTING.—In this sec13 tion, the term ‘electronic case reporting’ means the auto14 mated identification, generation, and bilateral exchange of 

15 reports of health events among electronic health record or 

16 health information technology systems and public health 

17 authorities. 

18 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

19 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

20 to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

21 2020 through 2024.’’. 

Æ 


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