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

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

Sec. 7901F. Centers of Excellence on Rare Kidney Disease Research in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Subpart 3 of part C of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 426 (42 U.S.C. 285c) the following new section:

Text this section adds to the law

426A. Centers of Excellence on Rare Kidney Disease Research in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

(a) Cooperative agreements and grants

(1) In general. The Director of the Institute may enter into cooperative agreements with, and make grants to, public and private nonprofit entities to pay all or part of the cost of planning, establishing, or strengthening, and providing basic operating support for, regional centers of excellence for rare kidney diseases, including primary glomerular disease. Such centers of excellence shall be known as NIDDK Centers of Excellence on Rare Kidney Disease Research (referred to in this section as Centers of Excellence).

(2) Purposes of centers. The purposes of the Centers of Excellence funded pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be—

(A) to conduct research on the causes, etiology, symptoms, diagnosis, progression, and treatment of rare kidney diseases, including glomerular diseases;

(B) to increase public awareness of rare kidney diseases, particularly in rural and underserved communities; and

(C) to develop resources for clinical research into, training in, and demonstration of diagnostic, prevention, control, and treatment methods for, rare kidney diseases.

(3) Policies. A cooperative agreement or grant under paragraph (1) shall be entered into in accordance with policies established by the Director of the National Institutes of Health.

(b) Coordination with other institutes. The Director of the Institute shall coordinate the activities under this section with similar activities that are related to rare kidney disease and conducted by other national research institutes, centers, and agencies of the National Institutes of Health and by the Food and Drug Administration.

(c) Use of funds. An entity that enters into a cooperative agreement or receives a grant under subsection (a) may use funds received through such agreement or grant—

(1) to cover patient care costs required to conduct research described in subsection (a)(2)(A);

(2) to provide, for the purpose described in subsection (a)(2)(B)—

(A) clinical training and continuing education for health professionals and related personnel with respect to rare kidney diseases; and

(B) information programs for the public, with respect to rare kidney diseases; and

(3) to provide, for the purpose described in subsection (a)(2)(B)—

(A) for education of members of the public, particularly through outreach to rural and underserved communities, on the diagnosis (including through routine urinalysis and through genetic testing), prevention, control, and treatment of rare kidney diseases; and

(B) for education of individuals diagnosed with rare kidney diseases on renal diet and lifestyle, genetic testing, and programs to promote urinalysis, and on mental and emotional health resources for families of rare kidney disease patients.

(d) Research funded. Research conducted using funds awarded through a cooperative agreement or grant under this section—

(1) shall include study of genotype-phenotype relation to disease progression; and

(2) with respect the populations studied in such research, may not include any consideration of quality-adjusted life years or disability adjusted life years, or other similar mechanisms that discriminate against individuals with disabilities in value and cost-effectiveness assessments.

(e) Period of support; additional periods. The period of support for a center of excellence under subsection (a) may not exceed 5 years, except that such period may be extended by the Director of the Institute for additional periods of not more than 5 years for each center if—

(1) the operations of such center have been reviewed by an appropriate technical and scientific peer review group established by the Director of the Institute; and

(2) such group has recommended to the Director of the Institute that such period should be extended.

(f) Authorization of appropriations. To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $6,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031.

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