Title: A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study and report on data quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis.
Policy area: Health

Summary:
This bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to initiate an inquiry within seven days and report on the impact of certain changes to hospital reporting requirements for COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) on data quality, transparency, and access. (The White House's Coronavirus Task Force revised the process for hospitals to report COVID-19 data on July 13, 2020; previously, hospitals reported data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instead of to the Department of Health and Human Services.)
To facilitate the inquiry, HHS must provide the GAO with direct access to relevant information systems. The GAO must present its findings within 45 days, and HHS must then respond to the findings and rectify any issues identified within 7 days.
In addition, the GAO must issue reports that address, for example, the impact of the changes to reporting requirements on federal and nonfederal entities, such as hospitals, states, and other jurisdictions, and information about how the decision to change those requirements was made.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4328 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4328

 To require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a 
 study and report on data quality, sharing, transparency, access, and 
                               analysis.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 27, 2020

  Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Brown, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
 Durbin, Mr. Casey, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Reed, Mr. 
 Van Hollen, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Klobuchar, 
Mr. Kaine, Ms. Warren, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Harris, Mr. Udall, Mr. Markey, 
Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Stabenow, 
  Mr. Booker, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr. Bennet) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a 
 study and report on data quality, sharing, transparency, access, and 
                               analysis.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROTECTING DATA QUALITY, SHARING, TRANSPARENCY, ACCESS, AND 
              ANALYSIS.

    (a) Inquiry and Submission of Findings.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 7 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
        United States (referred to in this section as the ``Comptroller 
        General'') shall initiate an inquiry into any changes or 
        interruptions in data quality, sharing, transparency, access, 
        and analysis resulting from the changes to COVID-19 hospital 
        data reporting requirements initiated by the White House 
        Coronavirus Task Force and the Department of Health and Human 
        Services on July 13, 2020.
            (2) Submission of findings.--Not later than 45 days after 
        initiation of such inquiry, the Comptroller General shall 
        present its findings to the Committee on Health, Education, 
        Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce of the House of Representatives, and the Department of 
        Health and Human Services, in oral briefings, which shall 
        detail--
                    (A) what is known about any changes or 
                interruptions in data quality, sharing, transparency, 
                access to data, and analysis or access to relevant 
                analytics, including whether such changes increased, 
                decreased, expedited, or delayed such quality, sharing, 
                transparency, access, and analysis or access to 
                relevant analytics, for--
                            (i) the public;
                            (ii) State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
                        health departments;
                            (iii) hospitals; or
                            (iv) Federal agency officials, including 
                        officials within the Department of Health and 
                        Human Services and Centers for Disease Control 
                        and Prevention; and
                    (B) what is known about whether there was any 
                impact to, or interruptions in, delivery of supplies, 
                including personal protective equipment, ventilators, 
                and COVID-19 therapeutics, to States or other entities 
                resulting from changes to COVID-19 hospital data 
                reporting requirements described in paragraph (1).
    (b) Access to Reporting System.--For purposes of the review 
required under this section or any other audit, evaluation, or 
investigation authorized by law, the Secretary shall, within 7 days of 
the date of enactment of this Act, provide the Comptroller General with 
direct access to the systems used for the reporting of information 
referred to in this section, including to all information collected, 
stored, analyzed, processed, or produced in or through such systems 
used for such purposes. For purposes of this subsection, the term 
``direct access'' means secured access to the information technology 
systems maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services that 
enables the Comptroller General to independently access, view, download 
and retrieve data from such systems.
    (c) Addressing Issues.--Not later than 7 days after the Comptroller 
General submits the findings to Congress under subsection (a)(2), the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall address data quality, 
sharing, transparency, access, and analysis, and access to relevant 
analytics for the public; State, local, Tribal, and territorial health 
departments; hospitals; and Federal agency officials, including 
officials within the Department of Health and Human Services and 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to fully correct any 
decreases or delays reported under subsection (a)(2) by the Comptroller 
General and ensure that data quality, sharing, transparency, access, 
and analysis or access to relevant analytics are equal to or better 
than they were as of July 12, 2020.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee 
on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, a report 
regarding the impact of changes to COVID-19 hospital data reporting 
requirements initiated by the White House Coronavirus Task Force and 
the Department of Health and Human Services on July 13, 2020. In 
preparing such report, the Comptroller General shall collect 
information from relevant stakeholders, as appropriate. Such report 
shall--
            (1) detail any known changes or interruptions in data 
        quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or access 
        to relevant analytics for the entities described in subsection 
        (a)(2)(A), including whether such changes ultimately increased, 
        decreased, expedited, or delayed data quality, sharing, 
        transparency, access, and analysis or access to relevant 
        analytics;
            (2) describe challenges faced by hospitals, States, 
        localities, Indian Tribes (as defined in section 4 of the 
        Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
        U.S.C. 5304)), urban Indian organizations (as defined in 
        section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 
        1603)), territories, Federal agencies, and the public resulting 
        from such changes;
            (3) describe the extent to which such changes may allow for 
        manipulation of the data in a manner that results in hospitals, 
        States, localities, Indian Tribes (as defined in section 4 of 
        the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
        U.S.C. 5304)), urban Indian organizations (as defined in 
        section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 
        1603)), territories, Federal agencies, and the public receiving 
        different information than what was provided to the Department 
        of Health and Human Services;
            (4) assess the extent to which such changes increased or 
        decreased the number of hospitals reporting data and the 
        completeness and quality of data reported by hospitals;
            (5) determine whether any States deployed the National 
        Guard to assist in hospital data reporting, as suggested in 
        communications from the White House Coronavirus Task Force and 
        the Department of Health and Human Services on July 13, 2020, 
        and whether any such deployment had a measurable effect on the 
        speed, content, or quality of such reporting;
            (6) describe the decision-making process within the 
        Department of Health and Human Services that led to the changes 
        initiated on July 13, 2020, including--
                    (A) the role of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention in such decision-making;
                    (B) any analysis conducted by the Department of 
                Health and Human Services or the Centers for Disease 
                Control and Prevention that assessed the quality and 
                completeness of different data streams (including the 
                National Healthcare Safety Network, TeleTracking, data 
                reported by States to the Protect System of the 
                Department of Health and Human Services), prior to July 
                13, 2020;
                    (C) any external input into the decision-making 
                process, including from other Federal agencies, States, 
                localities, Indian Tribes (as defined in section 4 of 
                the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
                Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), urban Indian organizations (as 
                defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care 
                Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603)), territories, or 
                hospitals;
                    (D) the public health justification for the 
                changes; and
                    (E) any other justification for such changes; and
            (7) assess the process used to address any decreases or 
        delays in data quality, sharing, transparency, access to data, 
        and analysis and access to relevant analytics as required under 
        subsection (c).
    (e) Interim Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives an 
interim report providing information on initial findings under 
subsection (d).
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