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Law360 (September 11, 2020, 5:53 PM EDT) -- A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has announced new legislation they say would improve health data sharing between federal and state governments and tribes, in an effort to help tribes study the full scope of the coronavirus pandemic's impact.
The so-called Tribal Health Data Improvement Act would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to give tribes, their epidemiology centers and the Indian Health Service direct access to public health data, according to a Thursday announcement from Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would also have to enter into data-sharing agreements with tribal health organizations to address misclassification of American Indians and Alaska Natives on birth and death certificates, and provide guidance to state and local governments for better reporting.
"High rates of misclassification and undersampling of these populations are far too common in our public health data systems at the federal, state, and local levels," bill co-sponsor Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a statement Thursday. "As we navigate COVID-19, we know that tribes have faced significant challenges in accessing CDC data to carry out their responsibilities to their members."
Tribal governments and epidemiology centers already meet qualifications to access public health data at all levels of government but are often denied in practice, according to bill sponsors.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., raised the alarm to CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield in a June letter, following reports that the federal government had turned down tribal epidemiologists' requests for data.
The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
The new Senate bill was introduced Thursday and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs, according to Congress' website.
The bill includes appropriations of $185 million annually through fiscal year 2025 to develop uniform data collection standards in collaboration with tribes, according to a copy of the bill shared with Law360.
Additional sponsors include Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.
The National Indian Health Board said in a statement Thursday that it "strongly supports" the legislation.
"This bill would break down barriers in tribes' and tribal epidemiology centers' access to federal public health data, which is important in controlling COVID-19 in hard-hit tribal communities," said NIHB CEO Stacy A. Bohlen.
Incomplete tracking of birth and death rates "posed an issue long before COVID-19 but became even more evident as our tribal members are succumbing to the virus," Bohlen added.
--Additional reporting by Joyce Hanson. Editing by Daniel King.
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