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

VIII Health Information Technology

A Reducing Health Disparities Through Health IT

Sec. 8102. Assessment of impact of Health IT on racial and ethnic minority communities; outreach and adoption of Health IT in such communities

(a) National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

(1) In general. Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (referred to in this title as the National Coordinator) shall—

(A) conduct an evaluation of the level of interoperability, access, use, and accessibility of EHRs in racial and ethnic minority communities, focusing on whether patients in such communities have providers who use EHRs, and the degree to which patients in such communities can access, exchange, and use without special effort their health information in those EHRs;

(B) include in such evaluation an indication of whether such providers—

(i) are participating in the Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) or a State plan under title XIX of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) (or a waiver of such plan);

(ii) have received incentive payments or incentive payment adjustments under Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs (as defined in subsection (c)(2));

(iii) are MIPS eligible professionals, as defined in paragraph (1)(C) of section 1848(q) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(q)), for purposes of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System under such section; or

(iv) have been recruited by any of the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers established under section 3012 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300jj–32); and

(C) publish the results of such evaluation, including the indications under subparagraph (B), the race and ethnicity of such providers, and the populations served by such providers.

(2) Evaluation of interoperability. The evaluation of the level of interoperability described in paragraph (1)(A) shall consider exchange of electronic health information, usability of exchanged electronic health information, effective application and use of the exchanged electronic health information, and impact on outcomes of interoperability.

(3) Certification criterion. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Coordinator shall—

(A) promulgate a certification criterion and module of certified EHR technology that stratifies quality measures for purposes of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System by disparity characteristics, including race, ethnicity, language, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and disability status, as such characteristics are defined for purposes of certified EHR technology; and

(B) report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services the quality measures stratified by race and at least 2 other disparity characteristics.

(b) National Center for Health Statistics. Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Center for Health Statistics shall provide to Congress a report that details the adoption of certified electronic health record systems and electronic information sharing in physicians’ offices in communities of color and rural communities during fiscal years 2023 thorough 2026.

(c) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

(1) In general. As part of the process of collecting information, with respect to a provider, at registration and attestation for purposes of Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs (as defined in paragraph (2)) or the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System under section 1848(q) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(q)), the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall collect the race and ethnicity of such provider.

(2) Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs defined. For purposes of paragraph (1), the term Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs means the incentive programs under the following:

(A) Subsection (l)(3) of section 1814(l)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f).

(B) Subsections (a)(7) and (o) of section 1848 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4).

(C) Subsections (l) and (m) of section 1853 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–23).

(D) Subsections (b)(3)(B)(ix)(I) and (n) of section 1886 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww).

(E) Subsections (a)(3)(F) and (t) of section 1903 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b).

(d) National Coordinator’s assessment of impact of HIT. Section 3001(c)(6)(C) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300jj–11(c)(6)(C)) is amended—

(1) in the heading by inserting , racial and ethnic minority communities, after health disparities;

(2) by inserting , in communities with a high proportion of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in section 1707(g)), including people with disabilities in such groups, after communities with health disparities;

(3) by striking The National Coordinator and inserting the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(i) In general. The National Coordinator

; and

(4) by adding at the end the following:

Text this section adds to the law

(ii) Criteria. In any publication under clause (i), the National Coordinator shall include best practices for encouraging partnerships between the Federal Government, States, private entities, national nonprofit intermediaries, and community-based organizations to expand outreach and education for and the adoption of certified EHR technology in communities with a high proportion of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in section 1707(g)), while also maintaining the accessibility requirements of section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to encourage patient involvement in patient health care. The National Coordinator shall—

(I) not later than 6 months after the submission of the report required under section 8302(b) of the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026, establish criteria for evaluating the impact of health information technology on communities with a high proportion of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups (as so defined) taking into account the findings in such report; and

(II) not later than 1 year after the submission of such report, publish the results of an evaluation of such impact.

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