Title: GET CARE Act of 2020
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Getting Early Treatment and Comprehensive Assessments Reduces Emergencies Act of 2020 or the GET CARE Act of 2020
This bill directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to undertake actions to increase the number of individuals seeking recommended preventive care services, particularly during the COVID-19 (i.e, coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. It also authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to states, other jurisdictions, and certain nonprofits for activities and research related to preventive care services.
Specifically, the CDC must award competitive grants to carry out a national campaign to increase awareness of, and disseminate information about, preventive care services. In carrying out the campaign, the CDC must consult with relevant public health and health care experts.
The campaign must focus particularly on medically underserved communities, communities of color, and communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. It must address, among other topics, misinformation about seeking preventive care during the COVID-19 emergency and the safety of health care facilities.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4507 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4507

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national 
  campaign to raise awareness of the importance of seeking preventive 
         health services and the utilization of such services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 6, 2020

Mr. Warner (for himself and Mr. Scott of South Carolina) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national 
  campaign to raise awareness of the importance of seeking preventive 
         health services and the utilization of such services.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Getting Early Treatment and 
Comprehensive Assessments Reduces Emergencies Act of 2020'' or the 
``GET CARE Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVING AWARENESS AND UTILIZATION OF PREVENTIVE CARE TO 
              REDUCE DISEASE, ILLNESS, AND OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS.

    Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 320B. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE 
              CARE SERVICES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other offices and 
agencies, as appropriate, shall award competitive grants to one or more 
public or private entities to carry out a national, evidence-based 
campaign to increase awareness of the importance of recommended 
preventive care services for the prevention and control of diseases and 
illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, combat misinformation about 
seeking preventive care during the COVID-19 pandemic, reiterate the 
safety of health care facilities, emphasize the availability of in-
person and virtual preventative care, and disseminate scientific and 
evidence-based, preventive care-related information, with the goal of 
increasing the number of individuals of all ages seeking recommended 
preventive care, as applicable, particularly in medically underserved 
communities, communities of color, and communities disproportionately 
impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
    ``(b) Consultation.--In carrying out the campaign under this 
section, the Secretary shall consult with appropriate public health and 
health care experts, including the United States Preventive Services 
Task Force and medical and public health associations and nonprofit 
organizations, in the development, implementation, and evaluation of 
the evidence-based public awareness campaign.
    ``(c) Requirements.--The campaign under this section--
            ``(1) shall be a national, evidence-based initiative;
            ``(2) may include the use of television, radio, the 
        internet, and other telecommunications technologies;
            ``(3) may be focused to address specific needs of 
        communities that are medically underserved, communities of 
        color, communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 
        pandemic, or other communities as appropriate;
            ``(4) shall include the development of resources for 
        medically underserved communities, including culturally and 
        linguistically appropriate resources;
            ``(5) shall include the dissemination of information about 
        recommended preventive care services to health care providers 
        and health care facilities, including tools for providers to 
        communicate with patients about those services;
            ``(6) shall be complementary to, and coordinated with, any 
        other Federal efforts and State efforts, as appropriate;
            ``(7) shall assess the effectiveness of communication 
        strategies to increase the use of preventive care services; and
            ``(8) may include the dissemination of scientific and 
        evidence-based preventive care services information to 
        providers, patients, and other stakeholders, such as--
                    ``(A) advancements in evidence-based research 
                related to diseases, illnesses, and other medical 
                conditions that may be mitigated by preventive care 
                services;
                    ``(B) information on preventive care for 
                individuals and communities,
                    ``(C) information on diseases, illnesses, and other 
                medical conditions that may be prevented by preventive 
                care;
                    ``(D) information on preventive care and the 
                systems in place to monitor the safety of providing 
                preventive care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; 
                and
                    ``(E) information on the relative risk of accessing 
                care during the COVID-19 pandemic versus forgoing 
                preventive care.
    ``(d) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) establish benchmarks and metrics to quantitatively 
        measure and evaluate the awareness campaign under this section;
            ``(2) conduct qualitative assessments regarding the 
        awareness campaign under this section; and
            ``(3) prepare and submit to the Committee on Health, 
        Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and Committee on 
        Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives an 
        evaluation of the awareness campaign under this section.''.

SEC. 3. GRANTS TO ADDRESS DISEASES, ILLNESSES, AND MEDICAL CONDITIONS 
              WHERE REGULAR PREVENTIVE CARE CAN IMPROVE HEALTH 
              OUTCOMES.

    Section 317(k) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b(k)) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as paragraphs 
        (4) and (5), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
    ``(3) The Secretary may make grants to States, political 
subdivisions of States, and other public and nonprofit private entities 
for--
            ``(A) planning, implementation, and evaluation of 
        activities to address diseases, illnesses, and medical 
        conditions where regular preventive care can improve health 
        outcomes, including activities to--
                    ``(i) identify medically underserved communities 
                with reduced access to or utilization of recommended 
                preventive care services, communities of color, and 
                communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 
                pandemic;
                    ``(ii) pilot innovative approaches to improve the 
                utilization of recommended preventive care services in 
                medically underserved communities with reduced access 
                to or utilization of such services among communities of 
                color and communities disproportionately impacted by 
                the COVID-19 pandemic;
                    ``(iii) reduce barriers to accessing preventive 
                care, information on how to safely access care during 
                the COVID-19 pandemic, and information about health 
                benefits of seeking preventive care;
                    ``(iv) partner with community organizations, health 
                care providers, public health organizations, local 
                health departments, and other stakeholders to develop 
                and deliver evidence-based interventions to increase 
                the usage of recommended preventive care; and
                    ``(v) improve delivery of evidence-based preventive 
                care-related information to the public; and
            ``(B) research related to strategies for improving 
        awareness of scientific and evidence-based, preventive care-
        related information, including for medically underserved 
        communities with reduced access to or utilization of preventive 
        care, for communities of color, and in communities 
        disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, in order 
        to understand barriers to preventive care, improve the 
        utilization of recommended preventive care services, and assess 
        the public health outcomes of such strategies.''.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 320B 
of the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 2, and section 
317(k)(3) of such Act, as amended by section 3, such sums as may be 
necessary for fiscal years 2020 through 2024.
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