119-hr1305

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1305 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1305

 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 
 working group to formulate recommendations for standardizing the 
 measurements of loneliness and isolation, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 13, 2025

 Mr. Flood (for himself and Mr. Bera) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 
 working group to formulate recommendations for standardizing the 
 measurements of loneliness and isolation, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Measurements for 
Loneliness and Isolation Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. WORKING GROUP ON UNIFYING LONELINESS RESEARCH.

    (a) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) The term ``isolation'' means the objective lack of 
 social relationships or limited social contact with others.

    (2) The term ``loneliness'' means a subjective feeling of 
 being isolated.

    (b) Establishment.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in 
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a 
national working group, to be known as the Working Group on Unifying 
Loneliness Research (in this section referred to as the ``Working 
Group''), to formulate recommendations for standardizing the 
measurements of loneliness and isolation.
            (c) Goals.--The goals of the recommendations under subsection

    (b) shall be the following:

    (1) Collaboration, cooperation, and consultation among 
 Federal departments and agencies with respect to developing 
 standardized measurements of loneliness and isolation for the 
 purposes of--
        (A) having standardized measurements for use in 
 public and private research, including surveys across 
 varying populations, with the ability to capture the 
 level of granularity needed to guide strategic 
 decisionmaking, planning, and evaluation of strategies 
 to combat loneliness and isolation; and
        (B) providing reliable, consistent measurement 
 tools for use across fields and industries in health 
 care.

    (2) Collaboration, cooperation, and consultation among 
 Federal departments and agencies with respect to developing 
 standardized definitions of loneliness, isolation, and relevant 
 terms associated with loneliness and isolation for the purposes 
 of education, awareness, and understanding of the terms for the 
 general public.

    (3) Assessment of the alignment of previous methods of 
 measuring loneliness and isolation in the public and private 
 sectors.
            (d) Composition.--The Working Group shall be composed of--

    (1) senior-level representatives of--
        (A) the Department of Health and Human Services;
        (B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services;
            (C) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
            (D) the Administration for Community Living;
        (E) the National Institutes of Health;
        (F) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
 Administration;
        (G) the Health Resources and Services 
 Administration;
        (H) the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 
 and
            (I) other agencies, groups, subject matter experts, 
 or researchers the Secretary deems beneficial to be 
 represented in the Working Group consistent with the 
 goals specified in subsection
            (c) ;

    (2) 1 representative of each of the three States with the 
 highest numbers of practitioners needed to remove the 
 designations of all mental health care health professional 
 shortage areas in the respective State (as reflected in the 
 report of the Health Resources and Services Administration 
 titled ``Designated Health Professional Shortage Areas 
 Statistics'' (June 30, 2023), with each such representative 
 designated by the Governor of the respective State; and

    (3) 1 representative of the each of the three States with 
 the lowest numbers of practitioners needed to remove such 
 designations, with each such representative designated by the 
 Governor of the respective State.

    (e) Report to Congress.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
 enactment of this Act, the Working Group shall--
        (A) submit to the committees listed in paragraph

    (3) a report describing the work and recommendations of 
 the Working Group; and
        (B) make such report publicly available on the 
 internet.

    (2) Meetings.--The Working Group shall meet not less than 3 
 times in the course of developing its report.

    (3) Committees.--The committees referred to in paragraph

    (1)
        (A) are the following:
        (A) The Committee on Education and Workforce of the 
 House of Representatives.
        (B) The Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
 House of Representatives.
            (C) The Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
 Representatives.
            (D) The Committee on Finance of the Senate.
        (E) The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
 Pensions of the Senate.

    (f) 

=== Definition. ===
-In this section, the term ``State'' means the 50 
States.

    (g) Sunset.--This section shall cease to be effective at the end of 
calendar year 2027.
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