In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall, as appropriate and in consultation with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, designate data and technology standards (including standards for interoperability) for public health data systems, with deference given to standards published by consensus-based standards development organizations with public input and voluntary consensus-based standards bodies.
The Secretary may develop and utilize public-private partnerships for technical assistance, training, and related implementation support for State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health departments, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on the expansion and modernization of electronic case reporting and public health data systems, as applicable.
The Secretary may not award a grant or cooperative agreement under subsection (a)(1)(B) unless the applicant uses or agrees to use standards endorsed by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology pursuant to section 300jj–11(c)(1) of this title or adopted by the Secretary under section 300jj–14 of this title.
The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall consult with State, local, Tribal, and territorial health departments, professional medical and public health associations, associations representing hospitals or other health care entities, health information technology experts, and other appropriate public or private entities regarding the plan and grant program to modernize public health data systems pursuant to this section. Activities under this subsection may include the provision of technical assistance and training related to the exchange of information by such public health data systems used by relevant health care and public health entities at the local, State, Federal, Tribal, and territorial levels, and the development and utilization of public-private partnerships for implementation support applicable to this section.
In this section, the term “electronic case reporting” means the automated identification, generation, and bilateral exchange of reports of health events among electronic health record or health information technology systems and public health authorities.
To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.