I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5321 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to expand, enhance, and improve 
public health data systems, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 5, 2019 
Mrs. MCBATH (for herself and Mr. CARTER of Georgia) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to expand, enhance, 
and improve public health data systems, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Health Infra-
structure Modernization Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION. 
Subtitle C of title XXVIII of the Public Health Serv-
ice Act (42 U.S.C. 300hh–31 et seq.) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 
2822. 
PUBLIC 
HEALTH 
DATA 
SYSTEM 
TRANS-
FORMATION. 
‘‘(a) EXPANDING CDC AND PUBLIC HEALTH DE-
PARTMENT CAPABILITIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 
through the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, shall— 
‘‘(A) conduct activities to expand, enhance, 
and improve public health data systems used by 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
related to the interoperability and improvement 
of such systems (including with respect to pre-
paredness for, prevention and detection of, and 
response to public health emergencies); and 
‘‘(B) award grants or cooperative agree-
ments to State, local, Tribal, or territorial pub-
lic health departments for the expansion and 
modernization of public health data systems, to 
assist public health departments in— 
‘‘(i) assessing current data infrastruc-
ture capabilities and gaps to improve con-
sistency in data collection, storage, and 
analysis, and as appropriate to improve 
dissemination of public health-related in-
formation; 
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‘‘(ii) improving secure public health 
data collection, transmission, exchange, 
maintenance, and analysis; 
‘‘(iii) improving the secure exchange 
of data between the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, State, local, Trib-
al, and territorial public health depart-
ments, public health organizations, and 
health care providers, including— 
‘‘(I) between public health offi-
cials in multiple jurisdictions within a 
State; and 
‘‘(II) by simplifying and sup-
porting reporting by health care pro-
viders pursuant to State law, includ-
ing through the use of health informa-
tion technology; 
‘‘(iv) enhancing the interoperability of 
public health data systems (including sys-
tems created or accessed by public health 
departments) with health information tech-
nology, including with health information 
technology 
certified 
under 
section 
3001(c)(5); 
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‘‘(v) supporting and training public 
health data systems, data science, and 
informatics personnel; 
‘‘(vi) supporting earlier disease and 
health condition detection, such as through 
near real-time data monitoring, to support 
rapid public health responses; 
‘‘(vii) supporting activities within the 
applicable jurisdiction related to the expan-
sion and modernization of electronic case 
reporting; and 
‘‘(viii) developing and disseminating 
information related to the use and impor-
tance of public health data. 
‘‘(2) DATA STANDARDS.—In carrying out para-
graph (1), the Secretary, acting through the Direc-
tor of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion, shall, as appropriate and in coordination with 
the Office of the National Coordinator for Health 
Information Technology, designate data and tech-
nology standards (including standards for interoper-
ability) for public health data systems, with def-
erence given to standards published by consensus- 
based standards development organizations with 
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public input and voluntary consensus-based stand-
ards bodies. 
‘‘(3) 
PUBLIC-PRIVATE
PARTNERSHIPS.—The 
Secretary may develop and utilize public-private 
partnerships for technical assistance, training, and 
related implementation support for State, local, 
Tribal, and territorial public health departments, 
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
on the expansion and modernization of electronic 
case reporting and public health data systems, as 
applicable. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) 
HEALTH
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY 
STANDARDS.—The Secretary may not award a grant 
or cooperative agreement under subsection (a)(1)(B) 
unless the applicant uses or agrees to use standards 
endorsed by the National Coordinator for Health In-
formation 
Technology 
pursuant 
to 
section 
3001(c)(1) or adopted by the Secretary under sec-
tion 3004. 
‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the 
requirement under paragraph (1) with respect to an 
applicant if the Secretary determines that the activi-
ties under subsection (a)(1)(B) cannot otherwise be 
carried out within the applicable jurisdiction. 
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‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—A State, local, Tribal, or 
territorial health department applying for a grant or 
cooperative agreement under this section shall sub-
mit an application to the Secretary at such time and 
in such manner as the Secretary may require. Such 
application shall include information describing— 
‘‘(A) the activities that will be supported 
by the grant or cooperative agreement; and 
‘‘(B) how the modernization of the public 
health data systems involved will support or im-
pact the public health infrastructure of the 
health department, including a description of 
remaining gaps, if any, and the actions needed 
to address such gaps. 
‘‘(c) STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not 
later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this 
section, the Secretary, acting through the Director of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall submit 
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-
sions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce of the House of Representatives a coordinated 
strategy and an accompanying implementation plan that 
identifies and describes the measures the Secretary will 
utilize to— 
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‘‘(1) update and improve public health data sys-
tems used by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention; and 
‘‘(2) carry out the activities described in this 
section to support the improvement of State, local, 
Tribal, and territorial public health data systems. 
‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, 
the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention, shall consult with 
State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health depart-
ments, professional medical and public health associations, 
associations representing hospitals or other health care en-
tities, health information technology experts, and other ap-
propriate public or private entities. 
‘‘(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 
shall submit a report to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep-
resentatives that includes— 
‘‘(1) a description of any barriers to— 
‘‘(A) public health authorities imple-
menting interoperable public health data sys-
tems and electronic case reporting; 
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‘‘(B) the exchange of information pursuant 
to electronic case reporting; or 
‘‘(C) reporting by health care providers 
using such public health data systems, as ap-
propriate, and pursuant to State law; 
‘‘(2) an assessment of the potential public 
health impact of implementing electronic case re-
porting and interoperable public health data sys-
tems; and 
‘‘(3) a description of the activities carried out 
pursuant to this section. 
‘‘(f) ELECTRONIC CASE REPORTING.—In this sec-
tion, the term ‘electronic case reporting’ means the auto-
mated identification, generation, and bilateral exchange of 
reports of health events among electronic health record or 
health information technology systems and public health 
authorities. 
‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.—To 
carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro-
priated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 
through 2024.’’. 
Æ 
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