H.R. 9877

Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026

Sponsor: Raul Ruiz

26 cosponsors
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I Data collection and reporting

II Culturally and linguistically appropriate health and health care

III Health workforce diversity

A Diversifying the health care workplace

B Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Behavioral and Mental Health Workforce

C ACCESS in Mental Health Act

D Developing the Community Health Workforce Act

IV Improving Health Care Access and Quality

A Reducing Barriers to Accessing Care

B Improvement of Coverage

C Expansion of Access

1 General Provisions

2 Rural

3 Indian Communities

4 Providers

5 Dental

D Advancing Health Equity Through Payment and Delivery Reform

E Health Empowerment Zones

F Equitable Health Care for All

G Investing in Equity

H Miscellaneous

I Territories Health Equity

1 Medicare

A Part A

B Part B

C Medicare Advantage (Part C)

D Part D

2 Miscellaneous

V Improving health outcomes for women, gender-diverse people, children, and families

A Underserved communities

B Pregnancy screening

C Pregnancy-Related care

D Federal agency coordination on maternal health

E Reproductive and Sexual Health

F Children’s Health

G Elder Care

H Miscellaneous provisions

VI Mental health and substance use disorders

A Access to care and funding streams

B Interprofessional care

C Workforce development

D Children’s mental health

E Community-Based care

F Reports

G Miscellaneous provisions

VII Addressing high-impact minority diseases

A Cancer

Sec. 7008. Reducing cancer disparities within the Medicare program

(a) Development of measures of disparities in quality of cancer care

(1) Development of measures. The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the Secretary) shall enter into an agreement with an entity that specializes in developing quality measures for cancer care under which the entity shall develop a uniform set of measures to evaluate disparities in the quality of cancer care and annually update such set of measures.

(2) Measures to be included. Such set of measures shall include, with respect to the treatment of cancer, measures of patient outcomes, the process for delivering medical care related to such treatment, patient counseling and engagement in decision making, patient experience of care, resource use, and practice capabilities, such as care coordination.

(b) Establishment of reporting process

(1) In general. The Secretary shall establish a reporting process that requires, and provides for, a method for health care providers specified under paragraph (2) to submit to the Secretary and make public data on the performance of such providers during each reporting period through use of the measures developed pursuant to subsection (a). Such data shall be submitted in a form and manner and at a time specified by the Secretary.

(2) Specification of providers to report on measures. The Secretary shall specify the classes of Medicare providers of services and suppliers, including hospitals, cancer centers, physicians, primary care providers, and specialty providers, that will be required under such process to publicly report on the measures specified under subsection (a).

(3) Assessment of changes. Under such reporting process, the Secretary shall establish a format that assesses changes in both the absolute and relative disparities in cancer care over time. These measures shall be presented in an easily comprehensible format, such as those presented in the final publications relating to Healthy People 2010 or the National Healthcare Disparities Report.

(4) Initial implementation. The Secretary shall implement the reporting process under this subsection for reporting periods beginning not later than 6 months after the date that measures are first established under subsection (a).

B Viral hepatitis and liver cancer control and prevention

C Acquired bone marrow failure diseases

D Cardiovascular disease, chronic disease, obesity, and other disease issues

E HIV/AIDS

F Diabetes

G Lung disease

H Tuberculosis

I Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases

J Sleep and circadian rhythm disorders

K Kidney disease research, surveillance, prevention, and treatment

L Diversity in clinical trials

M Additional provisions addressing high-impact minority diseases

N Health Equity and Rare Disease Act

O Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention

P New Era of Preventing End-Stage Kidney Disease

VIII Health Information Technology

A Reducing Health Disparities Through Health IT

B Modifications To Achieve Parity in Existing Programs

C Additional Research and Studies

D Closing Gaps in Funding To Adopt Certified EHRs

E Expanding Access to Telehealth Services

IX Accountability and Evaluation

X Addressing Social Determinants and Improving Environmental Justice

A In General

B Gun Violence

C Nutrition for women, children, families

1 Senior hunger prevention

2 Closing the meal gap

D Universal school meals

1 School breakfast program

2 School lunch program

3 Elementary and secondary education data

4 Amendments to other programs and laws

XI Protections to combat regulatory harm to health equity