We have received text from H.R. 9696: Saving Lives and Reducing Health Care Waste by Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act. This bill was received on 2026-07-15, and currently has 2 cosponsors.
Here is a short summary of the bill:
This bill would create or expand several federal efforts focused on improving how doctors and health systems diagnose patients, especially to reduce missed, delayed, or incorrect diagnoses.
What the bill does overall
The bill says diagnostic errors are a major source of preventable harm and unnecessary spending. It would direct the federal government to build more research, data, reporting, and coordination around diagnosis in health care. It also would encourage the use of patient experiences, data science, and artificial intelligence to help spot and reduce diagnostic problems.
New research and improvement program
The bill would require the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to create a national program focused on patient-centered research and quality improvement for diagnosis. That program would:
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Study why diagnostic errors and delays happen.
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Develop and spread evidence-based ways to improve diagnostic accuracy, timeliness, and safety.
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Look for ways to reduce waste in health care caused by wrong or delayed diagnoses.
It would also support “centers of diagnostic excellence,” including academic and provider-based research networks, to connect research directly with clinical practice. AHRQ could provide funding to help establish and run these centers.
Patient safety reporting system
The bill would require AHRQ to develop a plan for a federal system that lets patients, families, and caregivers voluntarily report diagnostic errors, safety events, and near misses. The reports would be for public health and learning purposes only, and would not be allowed as evidence in civil or criminal cases. The bill says this reporting would not affect patients’ legal rights or available remedies.
The plan would need to consider privacy protections, how to connect with existing federal data systems, and how to use tools such as natural-language processing and artificial intelligence to detect safety signals from patient reports. AHRQ would also have to consult with other federal health and data officials while developing the plan.
Training and research funding
The bill would make diagnostic safety and quality research an eligible topic under certain federal fellowship and training programs. It would also expand AHRQ’s programs so they can support work on diagnostic safety and quality.
Quality measures
The bill would add “diagnostic safety and quality” as an area to consider when developing health care quality measures. In practice, that could lead to new or revised ways of measuring how well health systems diagnose patients.
Data standardization
The bill would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to coordinate the standardization and responsible sharing of data elements needed for diagnosis research and improvement. It would convene an expert panel to recommend what data should be included in national interoperability standards, such as:
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patient symptoms and chief complaints,
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the status of a diagnosis, such as tentative or confirmed,
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symptom-based clinical registries, and
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other data capabilities needed for research and improvement.
The Secretary would then make public a summary of the panel’s recommendations and next steps.
Federal coordination
The bill would create an Interagency Council on Improving Diagnosis in Health Care inside the Department of Health and Human Services. The council would include representatives from agencies such as AHRQ, CDC, CMS, NIH, FDA, the VA, and health IT and data offices. Its job would be to coordinate federal research and policy efforts related to diagnosis.
The council would have to produce a strategic federal plan within 18 months and update it every two years. These plans would identify barriers to diagnosis research, describe progress, and recommend policy changes to improve coordination and support across agencies.
Authorized funding
The bill authorizes federal appropriations for these activities, including:
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$45 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2031 for the research and quality improvement program.
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$20 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2030 for the patient safety reporting infrastructure.
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Such sums as necessary for the data standardization work for fiscal years 2027 through 2029.
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$1.5 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2030 for the interagency council.
Relevant Companies
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EPAM
— Could be indirectly affected if federal health systems and research programs expand work on data interoperability, analytics, or AI tools for diagnostic safety.
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ORCL
— Could be indirectly affected through increased demand for health data infrastructure, interoperability, and analytics used in federal health programs.
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GOOGL
— Could be indirectly affected if health agencies and providers increase use of AI and data-science tools for diagnostic analysis and reporting.
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MSFT
— Could be indirectly affected by greater federal use of cloud, AI, and health data platforms tied to reporting and quality improvement systems.
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IBM
— Could be indirectly affected through health analytics, data integration, and AI-related federal projects focused on diagnosis improvement.
Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr. Bill Proposals
Here are some bills which have recently been proposed by Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr.:
- H.R.9730: Foreign Service Test-Free Reentry Act of 2026
- H.R.9729: Human Authority over Autonomous Weapons Act of 2026
- H.R.9696: Saving Lives and Reducing Health Care Waste by Improving Diagnosis in Medicine Act
- H.R.9622: Modernizing Aeronautical Standards Act
- H.R.9261: Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act
- H.R.9213: American Electric Rail Mapping Act of 2026
You can track bills proposed by Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr. on Quiver Quantitative's politician page for Beyer.
Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr. Net Worth
Quiver Quantitative estimates that Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr. is worth $121.8M, as of July 22nd, 2026. This is the 15th highest net worth in Congress, per our live estimates.
Beyer has approximately $830.0K invested in publicly traded assets which Quiver is able to track live.
You can track Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr.'s net worth on Quiver Quantitative's politician page for Beyer.
Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr. Stock Trading
We have data on up to $130.8M of trades from Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr., which we parsed from STOCK Act filings. Some of the largest trades include:
- A February 28th, 2022 sale of up to $100K of $AAPL. The stock has risen 98.49% since then.
- A February 28th, 2022 sale of up to $50K of $GS. The stock has risen 218.08% since then.
- A February 28th, 2022 sale of up to $50K of $ISRG. The stock has risen 20.57% since then.
- A January 20th, 2022 sale of up to $50K of $BRK.B. The stock has risen 57.44% since then.
- A July 14th, 2020 sale of up to $50K of $MSFT. The stock has risen 90.9% since then.
You can track Representative Donald S. Beyer, Jr.'s stock trading on Quiver Quantitative's politician page for Beyer.
2026 Virginia's 8th Congressional District Election
There has been approximately $4,730,368 of spending in Virginia's 8th congressional district elections over the last two years, per our estimates.
Approximately $75,280 of this has been from outside spending by PACs and Super PACs.
The rating for this race is currently "Solid D".
You can track this election on our matchup page for the 2026 Virginia's 8th congressional district election.
This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information.
