Title: COVID–19 Data Accuracy Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
COVID-19 Data Accuracy Act
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 (CDC) instead of to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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.
HHS must also, in coordination with the CDC, develop a process within 30 days to correct inaccuracies in the COVID-19 data.
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]
[H.R. 8811 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8811

 To initiate an inquiry and report on COVID-19 data quality, sharing, 
  transparency, access, and analysis and develop a process to correct 
  inaccurate information reported with respect to the COVID-19 public 
               health emergency, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 24, 2020

 Ms. Finkenauer (for herself, Mr. Loebsack, and Mrs. Axne) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To initiate an inquiry and report on COVID-19 data quality, sharing, 
  transparency, access, and analysis and develop a process to correct 
  inaccurate information reported with respect to the COVID-19 public 
               health emergency, and for other purposes.

    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 ``COVID-19 Data Accuracy Act''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTING DATA QUALITY, SHARING, TRANSPARENCY, ACCESS, AND 
              ANALYSIS.

    (a) Inquiry and Submission.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 7 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
        initiate an inquiry into any changes or interruptions in data 
        quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or access 
        to relevant analytics 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 an inquiry under paragraph (1), the Comptroller 
        General shall submit findings with respect to such inquiry to 
        the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
        Representatives, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
        Pensions of the Senate, and the Department of Health and Human 
        Services, in oral briefings, which shall address--
                    (A) any changes or interruptions described in 
                paragraph (1), including whether such changes 
                increased, decreased, expedited, or delayed the data 
                quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or 
                access to relevant analytics, with respect to--
                            (i) the public;
                            (ii) State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
                        health departments;
                            (iii) hospitals; and
                            (iv) Federal agency officials, including 
                        officials in the Department of Health and Human 
                        Services and Centers for Disease Control and 
                        Prevention; and
                    (B) 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 any changes or 
                interruptions described in paragraph (1).
    (b) Access to Reporting System.--The Secretary shall, not later 
than 7 days after the date of enactment of this Act, provide the 
Comptroller General with access to the information technology systems 
maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services to enable the 
Comptroller General to independently access, view, download, and 
retrieve data from such systems for the purpose of carrying out this 
section.
    (c) Addressing Issues.--Not later than 7 days after the Comptroller 
General submits the findings to Congress pursuant to subsection (a)(2), 
the Secretary shall--
            (1) correct any decreases or delays identified by the 
        Comptroller General in the findings;
            (2) address issues with respect to data quality, sharing, 
        transparency, access, and analysis and access to relevant 
        analytics; and
            (3) ensure that such data quality, sharing, transparency, 
        access, and analysis and 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 the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a 
report on the impact of changes or interruptions to COVID-19 hospital 
data reporting requirements described in subsection (a). In preparing 
such report, the Comptroller General shall collect information from 
relevant stakeholders, as appropriate. Such report shall--
            (1) detail any such changes or interruptions to 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 or interruptions 
        increased, decreased, expedited, or delayed such data 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 or interruptions;
            (3) describe the extent to which such changes or 
        interruptions may allow for manipulation of such data in a 
        manner that results in the entities described in paragraph (2) 
        receiving information that is different from information 
        provided to the Department of Health and Human Services;
            (4) assess the extent to which such changes or 
        interruptions 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 process;
                    (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, and 
                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--
                    (A) decreases or delays identified under subsection 
                (c)(1); and
                    (B) issues described in subsection (c)(2).
    (e) Interim Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 
an interim report on the initial findings with respect to information 
required to be in the report under subsection (d).

SEC. 3. CORRECTING INACCURACIES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, in coordination with the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 
reporting entities, develop a process to correct inaccurate information 
collected, reported, or distributed with respect to the COVID-19 public 
health emergency declared pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d).
    (b) Requirements.--The process under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) identify and correct inaccurate information in a timely 
        manner;
            (2) consider data made available by--
                    (A) the Department of Health and Human Services and 
                the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and
                    (B) reporting entities (including data provided to 
                the Secretary in accordance with the State plans 
                referred to in subsection (e));
            (3) permit the public to report on inaccurate information 
        described in subsection (a); and
            (4) include technical assistance, as necessary, for 
        reporting entities.
    (c) Public Notification.--The Secretary shall, in a manner that 
protects personally identifiable information from disclosure and 
complies with applicable Federal law on privacy--
            (1) in a timely manner, notify the public of--
                    (A) inaccurate information identified pursuant to 
                the process developed under subsection (a); and
                    (B) the steps used to correct the inaccurate 
                information; and
            (2) after notifying the public under paragraph (1), in a 
        reasonable period of time, make a public certification that 
        such inaccurate information has been corrected.
    (d) Guidance.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue guidance to reporting 
entities with respect to identifying and correcting inaccurate 
information described in subsection (a) in the data collected, 
reported, or distributed by such agencies. Such guidance shall include 
a method--
            (1) to notify the Secretary when such inaccurate 
        information is identified; and
            (2) to collaborate with the Secretary to correct and notify 
        the public of such inaccurate information in accordance with 
        subsection (c).
    (e) State Plans.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall require each State that 
submitted to the Secretary a COVID-19 testing plan under the heading 
``Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund'' in title I of 
division B of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care 
Enhancement Act (Public Law 116-139) to update the plan to include a 
process for correcting inaccurate information described in subsection 
(a) based on the guidance issued under subsection (d).
    (f) Reports.--
            (1) Preliminary reports.--Not later than 90 days after the 
        date of the enactment this Act, and every 30 days thereafter, 
        the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
        Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a 
        preliminary report on--
                    (A) the inaccurate information that is corrected 
                the most through the process developed under subsection 
                (a); and
                    (B) best practices for identifying, correcting, and 
                notifying the public of such inaccurate information.
            (2) Final report.--Not later than 3 months after the end of 
        the public health emergency described in subsection (a), the 
        Secretary shall submit to the committees referred to in 
        paragraph (1) a final report on--
                    (A) the inaccurate information described in 
                paragraph (1)(A); and
                    (B) the effectiveness of the process developed 
                under subsection (a) to address such inaccurate 
                information.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Comptroller general.--The term ``Comptroller General'' 
        means the Comptroller General of the United States.
            (2) Reporting entities.--The term ``reporting entities'' 
        means State, territorial, and local health departments, 
        hospitals, and any other entity that either directly or 
        indirectly reports information to the Secretary with respect to 
        the COVID-19 public health emergency declared pursuant to 
        section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services.
                                 <all>