emergency or major disaster (as de-
fined by the State) with respect to an 
infectious disease outbreak, the period 
for which such declaration is in effect 
with respect to such State.’’. 
(2) MEDICAID.—Section 1919(d)(3) of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396r(d)(3)) is amend-
ed— 
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 
and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and 
moving such clauses 2 ems to the right; 
(B) by striking ‘‘ENVIRONMENT.— A nurs-
ing facility must—’’ and inserting ‘‘ENVIRON-
MENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A nursing facility 
must—’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph: 
‘‘(B) APPLICATION STATEMENT.—For pur-
poses of carrying out this paragraph, the Sec-
retary shall apply by reference the provisions of 
section 483.80 of title 42, Code of Federal Reg-
ulations (as in effect on the date of the enact-
ment of the Promoting Restoration of Emer-
gency Preparedness and Advancing Response to 
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Epidemics in Long-Term Care Act), except in 
applying subsection (g) of such regulation— 
‘‘(i) any reference to COVID-19 shall 
be treated as a reference to an infectious 
disease outbreak, as defined in subpara-
graph (C); and 
‘‘(ii) any reference to ventilator capac-
ity shall be treated as a reference to med-
ical equipment and supplies critical to the 
infectious disease outbreak, including ven-
tilator capacity. 
‘‘(C) INFECTIOUS DISEASE OUTBREAK DE-
FINED.—The term ‘infectious disease outbreak’ 
has the meaning given such term in section 
1819(d)(3)(C).’’. 
(b) EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS REGULATIONS.— 
(1) MEDICARE.—Section 1819(d) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS.—A skilled 
nursing facility shall meet the requirements applica-
ble to skilled nursing facilities under the provisions 
of section 483.73 of title 42, Code of Federal Regu-
lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 
the Restoring Safety and Transparency for Long- 
Term Care Residents Act).’’. 
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(2) MEDICAID.—Section 1919(d) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.—A nursing 
facility shall meet the requirements applicable to 
nursing facilities under the provisions of section 
483.73 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (as 
in effect on the date of the enactment of the Pro-
moting Restoration of Emergency Preparedness and 
Advancing Response to Epidemics in Long-Term 
Care Act).’’. 
(c) REQUIREMENT TO ISSUE GUIDANCE.—Not later 
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue 
guidance to carry out the amendments made by this sec-
tion. 
(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY
OF DATA
ON DEFI-
CIENCIES IN INFECTION CONTROL AND DIRECT CARE 
STAFFING IN SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES.—Not later 
than 2 weeks after the beginning of a period of an infec-
tious disease outbreak (as defined in subparagraph (C) of 
subsection (d)(3) of section 1819 of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–3), as added by subsection (a)(1)), 
(or, in the case of the COVID-19 emergency period de-
scribed in section 1135(g)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
1320b–5(g)(1)(B)), not later than 60 days after the date 
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of the enactment of this Act), the Administrator of the 
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shall make pub-
licly available on the internet website of the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services data on deficiencies identi-
fied during the survey process described under subsection 
(g) of such section, with respect to infection control and 
direct care staffing in a skilled nursing facility (as defined 
in subsection (a) of such section). Such data so posted, 
with respect to an infectious disease outbreak (as defined 
in subparagraph (C) of such subsection (d)(3)), shall be 
updated every two weeks until the end of the period of 
such outbreak. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON REDUCING FREQUENCY OF 
STANDARD SURVEYS. 
(a) 
MEDICARE.—Section 
1819(g)(2)(A)(iii) 
is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
clause: 
‘‘(III) PROHIBITION ON REDUC-
ING
FREQUENCY
OF
SURVEYS
CON-
DUCTED DURING AN INFECTIOUS DIS-
EASE
OUTBREAK.—The 
Secretary 
shall not reduce the frequency of sur-
veys conducted under this section dur-
ing an infectious disease outbreak (as 
defined in subsection (d)(3)(C)).’’. 
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(b) MEDICAID.—Section 1919(g)(2)(A)(iii) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new subclause: 
‘‘(I) PROHIBITION ON REDUCING 
FREQUENCY OF SURVEYS CONDUCTED 
DURING
AN
INFECTIOUS
DISEASE 
OUTBREAK.—The Secretary shall not 
reduce the frequency of surveys con-
ducted under this section during an 
infectious disease outbreak (as defined 
in section 1819(d)(3)(C)).’’. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON WAIVING SUBMISSIONS OF DI-
RECT CARE STAFFING INFORMATION. 
Section 1128I(g) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320a–7j(g)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and 
inserting ‘‘; and’’; 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) shall be submitted not less frequently than 
quarterly, on a schedule specified by the Secretary.’’; 
and 
(4) by adding at the end the following new sen-
tence: ‘‘The Secretary shall not waive the require-
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