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

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

Sec. 10013. LGBTQ essential data

(a) Improving data collection on the sexual orientation and gender identity of deceased individuals through the National Violent Death Reporting System

(1) Collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data

(A) In general. Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall take measures to improve the incidence of the collection of information on the sexual orientation and gender identity of deceased individuals through the National Violent Death Reporting System or any successor programs.

(B) Confidentiality. Any information collected relating to the sexual orientation or gender identity of a decedent shall be maintained in accordance with the confidentiality and privacy standards and policies for the protection of individuals applicable to all other data collected for purposes of the National Violent Death Reporting System.

(2) Definitions. In this subsection:

(A) Gender identity. The term gender identity means an individual’s sense of being male, female, transgender, or another gender, as distinct from the individual’s sex assigned at birth.

(B) Sexual orientation. The term sexual orientation means how a person identifies in terms of their emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions, and includes identification as straight, heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, among other terms.

(3) Authorization. There is authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2027 to carry out this subsection.

(b) Sense of Congress. It is the sense of Congress that—

(1) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made significant efforts to encourage States and other jurisdictions to collect data on sexual orientation and gender identity through the National Violent Death Reporting System; and

(2) jurisdictions that participate in the collection of such data through the National Violent Death Reporting System should be commended for their participation.

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