I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1961
To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health
and Human Services to establish and implement a department-wide after-
action program and a risk communication strategy, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. T
ORRESof New York introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Sec-
retary of Health and Human Services to establish and
implement a department-wide after-action program and
a risk communication strategy, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Coordinated Agency 4
Response Enhancement Act’’ or the ‘‘CARE Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. HHS AFTER-ACTION PROGRAM. 1
Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 2
(42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 3
the following: 4
‘‘SEC. 399V–8. DEPARTMENT-WIDE AFTER-ACTION PRO-5
GRAM. 6
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish, 7
maintain, and implement an after-action program to— 8
‘‘(1) identify and implement solutions for issues 9
found following any response by the Department of 10
Health and Human Services to a determination of a 11
public health emergency under section 319(a); and 12
‘‘(2) encourage collaboration among the agen-13
cies of the Department, including by integrating any 14
public health emergency after-action programs of 15
such agencies. 16
‘‘(b) D
EADLINE.—The Secretary shall establish and 17
begin implementation of the after-action program under 18
subsection (a) not later than 2 years after the date of en-19
actment of this section. 20
‘‘(c) C
OORDINATIONWITHSTAKEHOLDERS.—The 21
after-action program under subsection (a) shall include 22
input from, and coordinate with, relevant external stake-23
holders involved in each public health emergency response 24
of the Department of Health and Human Services, such 25
as— 26
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‘‘(1) other Federal agencies; 1
‘‘(2) other jurisdictions, including the health de-2
partments of States, Indian Tribes, and territories 3
of the United States and municipalities thereof; and 4
‘‘(3) nongovernmental partners. 5
‘‘(d) O
VERSIGHT BYINSPECTORGENERAL.—The In-6
spector General of the Department of Health and Human 7
Services shall, whenever the Inspector General determines 8
appropriate, based on assessed risks and emerging 9
needs— 10
‘‘(1) evaluate the efficacy of the after-action 11
program under subsection (a), including by evalu-12
ating the ability of the program to identify chal-13
lenges and propose solutions; and 14
‘‘(2) submit to Congress a report summarizing 15
the evaluation under paragraph (1). 16
‘‘(e) C
OMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINES FORAFTER-AC-17
TIONPROGRAMREPORTS.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, as the 19
Secretary determines appropriate, incorporate in any 20
report of the after-action program under subsection 21
(a) the elements described in subparagraphs (A) 22
through (M) of paragraph (2). 23
‘‘(2) E
LEMENTS DESCRIBED .— 24
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‘‘(A) EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN , CON-1
TINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLAN , AND BUSINESS 2
CONTINUITY PLAN REVIEWS .—A description of 3
the process and outcomes of reviewing and up-4
dating emergency operations plans, continuity 5
of operations plans, and business continuity 6
plans both annually and after significant public 7
health emergencies. Such description may in-8
clude insights into the relevancy and efficiency 9
of such plans in practice. 10
‘‘(B) I
NFORMATION SHARING , SITUA-11
TIONAL AWARENESS .—A description of the es-12
tablishment and effectiveness of protocols for 13
efficient information sharing (consistent with 14
applicable disclosure laws) and situational 15
awareness among health care facilities and 16
partners, including the development and deploy-17
ment of an integrated joint information system. 18
‘‘(C) C
OORDINATION WITH NATIONAL , 19
STATE, AND LOCAL COALITIONS AND COMMU -20
NITY PARTNERS.—Descriptions of— 21
‘‘(i) strategies for coordination with 22
national, State, and local health care pa-23
tient and public health coalitions and com-24
munity partners, focusing on active en-25
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gagement and information sharing (con-1
sistent with applicable disclosure laws); 2
‘‘(ii) information technology solutions 3
used for coordination during public health 4
emergencies; and 5
‘‘(iii) how medical operations coordi-6
nation cells were implemented for effective 7
patient load balancing during surges to as-8
sure regional health care coordination. 9
‘‘(D) I
NCIDENT MANAGEMENT .—A descrip-10
tion of incident management structures, includ-11
ing the maintenance of the incident command 12
system and the establishment of an incident ac-13
tion planning process. 14
‘‘(E) C
OMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION 15
SHARING.—A description of strategies for the 16
development and maintenance of a dynamic 17
communications framework for real-time infor-18
mation sharing (consistent with applicable dis-19
closure laws) and situational awareness. 20
‘‘(F) S
TAFF, SPACE, AND RESIDENT MAN -21
AGEMENT.—A description of strategies for com-22
prehensive staff management plans, scalable 23
space management strategies, and policies 24
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adopted to maintain patient and resident well- 1
being. 2
‘‘(G) L
OGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MAN -3
AGEMENT.—A description of strategies for de-4
veloping comprehensive logistics and supply 5
chain management strategies to ensure a steady 6
and sufficient supply of personal protective 7
equipment, medical equipment, pharma-8
ceuticals, and other items. 9
‘‘(H) R
ESOURCE MANAGEMENT .—A de-10
scription of strategies for implementing crisis 11
standards of care protocols to optimize the allo-12
cation and use of medical and non-medical as-13
sets during emergencies, including guidelines 14
for the conservation, reuse, or repurposing of 15
supplies. 16
‘‘(I) I
NFECTION PREVENTION .—A descrip-17
tion of strategies for enhancing infection pre-18
vention measures, including staff training, envi-19
ronmental cleaning, and patient screening, to 20
mitigate the spread of infectious diseases within 21
health care facilities. 22
‘‘(J) T
REATMENT, TRANSPORT, AND DIS-23
CHARGE PROTOCOLS .—A description of how 24
treatment, transport, and discharge protocols 25
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were standardized to ensure consistency and ef-1
ficiency in patient care and movement, includ-2
ing the incorporation of telehealth and remote 3
monitoring solutions where feasible, explaining 4
the technologies used and the outcomes of the 5
interventions. 6
‘‘(K) C
ASE MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS .— 7
Descriptions of— 8
‘‘(i) how case management protocols 9
were refined to address both clinical and 10
non-clinical needs of patients and resi-11
dents; and 12
‘‘(ii) the measures taken to ensure co-13
ordinated care and support throughout the 14
treatment and recovery phases, detailing 15
the challenges faced and the strategies em-16
ployed to overcome such challenges. 17
‘‘(L) M
EDICAL COUNTERMEASURES .—De-18
scriptions of— 19
‘‘(i) the strategy employed to accel-20
erate the development, distribution, and 21
administration of medical counter-22
measures, such as vaccines, therapeutics, 23
diagnostic tests, and treatments; and 24
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‘‘(ii) the challenges encountered in 1
making such medical countermeasures 2
available for use during the public health 3
emergency and how such challenges were 4
addressed. 5
‘‘(M) R
ECOVERY.—A description of any 6
implemented recovery strategies focusing on ad-7
ministrative, financial, policy, and equity con-8
siderations. 9
‘‘(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 10
is authorized to be appropriated, to remain available until 11
expended— 12
‘‘(1) $3,500,000 to carry out subsections (a), 13
(b), (c), and (e), including the first 4 reports of the 14
after-action program; and 15
‘‘(2) such sums as may be necessary to carry 16
out subsection (d).’’. 17
SEC. 3. RISK COMMUNICATION STRATEGY. 18
Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 19
(42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.), as amended by section 2, is fur-20
ther amended by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘SEC. 399V–9. RISK COMMUNICATION STRATEGY. 22
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish, 23
maintain, and implement a comprehensive strategy to en-24
sure that communications about infectious diseases and 25
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other public health risks by agencies and offices of the 1
Department of Health and Human Services, including the 2
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are clear, ac-3
curate, and prioritize the populations most at risk. 4
‘‘(b) C
OMPONENTS.—The strategy under subsection 5
(a) shall be designed to— 6
‘‘(1) clearly identify at-risk populations during 7
public health emergencies; and 8
‘‘(2) ensure that communications are targeted, 9
understandable, and accessible. 10
‘‘(c) I
NITIALSTRATEGY.—The Secretary shall estab-11
lish and begin implementation of the initial strategy under 12
subsection (a) not later than 1 year after the date of en-13
actment of this section.’’. 14
Æ
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