[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3260 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 3260

  To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 
   working group to formulate recommendations for standardizing the 
   measurements of loneliness and isolation, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 8, 2023

 Mr. Ricketts introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 
   working group to formulate recommendations for standardizing the 
   measurements of loneliness and isolation, 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 ``Improving Measurements for 
Loneliness and Isolation Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. WORKING GROUP ON UNIFYING LONELINESS RESEARCH.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``isolation'' means the objective lack of 
        social relationships or limited social contact with others.
            (2) The term ``loneliness'' means a subjective feeling of 
        being isolated.
    (b) Establishment.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in 
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a 
national working group, to be known as the Working Group on Unifying 
Loneliness Research (in this section referred to as the ``Working 
Group''), to formulate recommendations for standardizing the 
measurements of loneliness and isolation.
    (c) Goals.--The goals of the recommendations under subsection (b) 
shall be the following:
            (1) Collaboration, cooperation, and consultation among 
        Federal departments and agencies with respect to developing 
        standardized measurements of loneliness and isolation for the 
        purposes of--
                    (A) having standardized measurements for use in 
                public and private research, including surveys across 
                varying populations, with the ability to capture the 
                level of granularity needed to guide strategic 
                decisionmaking, planning, and evaluation of strategies 
                to combat loneliness and isolation; and
                    (B) providing reliable, consistent measurement 
                tools for use across fields and industries in health 
                care.
            (2) Collaboration, cooperation, and consultation among 
        Federal departments and agencies with respect to developing 
        standardized definitions of loneliness, isolation, and relevant 
        terms associated with loneliness and isolation for the purposes 
        of education, awareness, and understanding of the terms for the 
        general public.
            (3) Assessment of the alignment of previous methods of 
        measuring loneliness and isolation in the public and private 
        sectors.
    (d) Composition.--The Working Group shall be composed of--
            (1) senior-level representatives of--
                    (A) the Department of Health and Human Services;
                    (B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services;
                    (C) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
                    (D) the Administration for Community Living;
                    (E) the National Institutes of Health;
                    (F) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
                Administration;
                    (G) the Health Resources and Services 
                Administration;
                    (H) the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 
                and
                    (I) other agencies, groups, subject matter experts, 
                or researchers the Secretary deems beneficial to be 
                represented in the Working Group consistent with the 
                goals specified in subsection (c);
            (2) 1 representative of each of the three States with the 
        highest numbers of practitioners needed to remove the 
        designations of all mental health care health professional 
        shortage areas in the respective State (as reflected in the 
        report of the Health Resources and Services Administration 
        titled ``Designated Health Professional Shortage Areas 
        Statistics'' (June 30, 2023), with each such representative 
        designated by the Governor of the respective State; and
            (3) 1 representative of the each of the three States with 
        the lowest numbers of practitioners needed to remove such 
        designations, with each such representative designated by the 
        Governor of the respective State.
    (e) Report to Congress.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Working Group shall--
                    (A) submit to the committees listed in paragraph 
                (3) a report describing the work and recommendations of 
                the Working Group; and
                    (B) make such report publicly available on the 
                internet.
            (2) Meetings.--The Working Group shall meet not less than 3 
        times in the course of developing its report.
            (3) Committees.--The committees referred to in paragraph 
        (1)(A) are the following:
                    (A) The Committee on Education and the Workforce of 
                the House of Representatives.
                    (B) The Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
                House of Representatives.
                    (C) The Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
                Representatives.
                    (D) The Committee on Finance of the Senate.
                    (E) The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                Pensions of the Senate.
    (f) Definition.--In this section, the term ``State'' means the 50 
States.
    (g) Sunset.--This section shall cease to be effective at the end of 
calendar year 2026.
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