Tracking and accountability of supplies in the national stockpile

Section 319F–2 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–6b) is amended— (1)by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (i); and (2)by inserting after subsection (g) the following:

(h)

Tracking and accountability of supplies in the stockpile

(1)

In general

The Secretary shall establish an automated supply chain tracking application that provides near real-time insight into the amount of critical medical and health supplies available in the stockpile under subsection (a), and available in the medical and health supply inventories of State, Tribal, territories, and local and private entities such as hospitals, manufacturers, and distributors. (2)

Access and use of the application

The Secretary shall establish rules for data access, and use of, the application established under paragraph (1). Such rules shall— (A)require internal tracking, pursuant to subsection (d), of all supplies within the stockpile under subsection (a), in a manner that is visible to Federal entities identified by the Secretary; (B)allow for data access, by Federal entities during an emergency response, as determined by the Secretary, to the medical and health supply stockpiles of State, Tribal, territories, and local and private partners; (C)establish, after consultation with public and private partners, a national standard for collecting and reporting data related to products maintained in the stockpile, including— (i)data standards for category of products, nomenclature, and standards for coding of each product for entities to report product availability in their Federal, State, and local jurisdictions; (ii)application of the standard to Tribal and local stockpiles; and (iii)a data dictionary defining terms, such as burn rate, calculation of supply-on-hand, and other appropriate terms; (D)ensure clear and efficient mechanisms for health care entities, including hospitals, manufacturers, and distributors, to report data in an emergency that supports medical and health supply chain management and surge re-deployment, including detailed data regarding all relevant supplies secured and available; (E)allow access by the Department of Health and Human Services to data from different vendor management systems, through automated feeds from health care entities, eliminating manual reporting errors from health care entities; (F)establish the parameters for permitted and prohibited government data access and uses; (G)ensure that the Department of Health and Human Services protects any data from hospitals, manufacturers, and distributors that is shared through the application, including protection of confidential, proprietary, commercial, and trade secret information; (H)ensure that Federal data collection is for monitoring and dynamic allocation and will not be used to remove or reallocate inventory from organizations; (I)ensure that data will not be used by suppliers for commercial or contractual purposes; (J)ensure that reported data will not be used to advantage or disadvantage any institution over another or to undermine the competitive marketplace; and (K)ensure that the application interfaces, for tracking management purposes, with the National Disaster Recovery Framework of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, appropriate dashboards of the Department of Defense, and other appropriate Federal partners. (3)

Participation by private entities

The application established under paragraph (1) shall support the voluntary sharing of data and accessing data by private health care supply chain entities, by allowing such entities to display near real-time data relating to inventory and time estimates for when inventories may be replenished. (4)

Annual exercise

The Secretary shall provide for an annual exercise hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services to test the effectiveness of the application established under paragraph (1), and to provide an opportunity to report, not later than 180 days after publication of the standards described in paragraph (2)(C), any inefficiencies or deficiencies in the application. (5)

Program of support

The Secretary shall establish a program to assist State, local, and private health care entities, such as rural, critical access, or community hospitals, that do not have an automated vendor management system in developing or obtaining such a system. (6)

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for the acquisition and development of an application under this section, $250,000,000 to remain available for fiscal years 2022 through 2027.