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H.R.8073 / 116th Congress

Improving COVID–19 Data Transparency Act

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in House · Aug 21, 2020

Improving COVID-19 Data Transparency Act

This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take certain actions with respect to reporting and modeling COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) data. It also requires health information technology, as a condition of certification by HHS, to automatically generate and transmit reports of possible reportable conditions from electronic health records to public health agencies.

The CDC must standardize the reporting of COVID-19 data by governmental health departments, including information related to contact tracing and surveillance, hospital admissions and outcomes, outbreaks, and community compliance with preventive measures. The CDC must also post and periodically update this information on its website.

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In addition, the CDC must provide sufficient information about federal COVID-19 models to allow them to be reproduced, and HHS must enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study issues related to COVID-19 modeling, including the data sources used in the models.

The CDC must also deliver a weekly televised presentation that is open to the media on its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication that reports surveillance statistics and other public health information and recommendations.

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Who introduced it

Rep. Beyer, Donald S., Jr. [D-VA-8] · D–VA

Committees

  • Energy and Commerce Committee
13 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

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  1. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

  2. Introduced in House

  3. Introduced in House

Bill text & related measures

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Related bills identified by Congress.gov

Source last updated: Jan 3, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

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Analyze H.R.8073 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.

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