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

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

Sec. 7502. Research, education, and other activities

Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.), as amended by section 7201, is amended by inserting after section 317X the following:

Text this section adds to the law

317Y. Diabetes in minority populations

(a) Research and other activities

(1) In general. The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall conduct and support research and public health activities with respect to diabetes in minority populations.

(2) Certain activities. Activities under paragraph (1) regarding diabetes in minority populations shall include the following:

(A) Further enhancing the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by oversampling Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in appropriate geographic areas to better determine the prevalence of diabetes in such populations as well as to improve the data collection of diabetes penetration disaggregated into major ethnic groups within such populations. The Secretary shall ensure that any such oversampling does not reduce the oversampling of other minority populations including African-American and Latino populations.

(B) Through the Division of Diabetes Translation—

(i) providing for prevention research to better understand how to influence health care systems changes to improve quality of care being delivered to such populations;

(ii) carrying out model demonstration projects to design, implement, and evaluate effective diabetes prevention and control interventions for minority populations, including culturally appropriate community-based interventions;

(iii) developing and implementing a strategic plan to reduce diabetes in minority populations through applied research to reduce disparities and culturally and linguistically appropriate community-based interventions;

(iv) supporting, through the national diabetes prevention program under section 399V–3, diabetes prevention program sites in underserved regions highly impacted by diabetes; and

(v) implementing, through the national diabetes prevention program under section 399V–3, a demonstration program developing new metrics measuring health outcomes related to diabetes that can be stratified by specific minority populations.

(b) Education. The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall direct the Division of Diabetes Translation to conduct and support both programs to educate the public on diabetes in minority populations and programs to educate minority populations about the causes and effects of diabetes.

(c) Diabetes; health promotion, prevention initiatives, and access. The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Diabetes Education Program, shall conduct and support programs to educate specific minority populations through culturally appropriate and linguistically appropriate information campaigns and initiatives about prevention of, and managing, diabetes.

(d) Definition. For purposes of this section, the term minority population means a racial and ethnic minority group, as defined in section 1707.

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