United States S 2560: Long COVID Support Act

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 2560
To address and support research on Long COVID.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY 27, 2023
Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To address and support research on Long COVID.
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 ‘‘Long COVID Support 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY PATIENT REGISTRY FOR RESEARCH 6
ON LONG COVID AND RELATED CONDITIONS. 7
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 8
Human Services (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-9
retary’’) shall carry out activities described in subsection 10
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(b) for treatment related to Long COVID and related con-1
ditions. 2
(b) ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED.—For purposes of sub-3
section (a), activities described in this subsection shall in-4
clude— 5
(1) creating or maintaining a regularly updated 6
voluntary patient registry of individuals with sus-7
pected or confirmed Long COVID and related condi-8
tions, including information on— 9
(A) symptoms that arise while an indi-10
vidual is initially infected with COVID–19 and 11
that may resolve over time or extend beyond the 12
resolution of the initial symptoms; 13
(B) persistent symptoms that arise after 14
an individual is initially infected with COVID– 15
19 and that the clinician of such individual has 16
reason to suspect were related to the COVID– 17
19 diagnosis; 18
(C) symptoms that arise in an individual 19
that may be related to COVID–19, but a diag-20
nosis of COVID–19 was not obtained and can-21
not be identified due to a lack of antibodies, 22
false negative test results, or lack of access to 23
timely testing; 24
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(D) treatments of individuals after primary 1
diagnosis of COVID–19 and the effectiveness of 2
such treatments; 3
(E) any other relevant questions or issues 4
related to individuals who experience a diag-5
nosis of, treatment for, and management of 6
care with COVID–19, Long COVID, and re-7
lated conditions; and 8
(F) comorbidities, vaccination status, and 9
demographics, including age, gender, race and 10
ethnicity, geographic location, and occupation of 11
registry participants; 12
(2) information relating to individuals experi-13
encing Long COVID and related conditions and 14
other information available through the voluntary 15
patient registry; 16
(3) dissemination of information to relevant 17
Federal departments and agencies and patients par-18
ticipating in the voluntary patient registry related to 19
COVID–19, Long COVID, and related conditions; 20
(4) an assurance that the voluntary patient reg-21
istry utilizes common data elements and definitions 22
for use in order to promote appropriate data sharing 23
for ongoing and future research; and 24
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(5) outreach to, and inclusion in the voluntary 1
patient registry, as appropriate, of individuals from 2
communities impacted by high COVID–19 and Long 3
COVID rates and health care providers from diverse 4
disciplines that may treat individuals with COVID– 5
19, Long COVID, and related conditions. 6
(c) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION; PRIVACY PROTEC-7
TIONS.— 8
(1) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—Participation 9
in the patient registry described in subsection (b)(1) 10
shall be voluntary, and a person creating, assisting 11
in the creation of, or maintaining the registry shall 12
not include in the registry information about an in-13
dividual unless the individual consents to the inclu-14
sion of such information. 15
(2) PRIVACY PROTECTIONS.—Information about 16
an individual that is included in the registry shall be 17
subject to all applicable privacy protections under 18
Federal and State law. 19
(d) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the estab-20
lishment of the patient registry under subsection (b)(2), 21
and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a re-22
port that includes data, findings, and information with re-23
spect to the status of the patient registry (including 24
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progress, barriers, and issues) to Congress and the Presi-1
dent. 2
SEC. 3. RESEARCH AND COORDINATION OF ACTIVITIES 3
CONCERNING THE LONG-TERM HEALTH EF-4
FECTS OF LONG COVID AND RELATED CONDI-5
TIONS. 6
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Heal