Montana committee hears bill to require aggregate public-health reporting during declared emergencies

Representative Bill Mercer on Wednesday asked the House Health and Human Services Committee to require the Department of Public Health and Human Services to publish aggregate public-health data by age cohort, gender, hospitalizations and deaths during a governor-declared public health emergency.

"There was a deficit of information in terms of who was being affected and how they were being affected in sort of age-specific cohorts," Mercer said, describing the bill as a narrow effort to give the public clearer, actionable data in future emergencies.

Mercer said the bill is intended to produce statewide, aggregated counts that would not disclose individually identifiable information. "If the committee feels strongly that there needs to be some change, I'm certainly open to that," he said, adding that the department has proposed an amendment he has not yet received in final form.

Laura Williamson, the department’s state epidemiologist, provided informational testimony about what the agency currently tracks and how it reported…