WASHINGTON — Nearly four years after President Barack Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan and Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado are working to update it.

In a Zoom call on Monday, Upton and DeGette said they were looking to build on the previous act, which aimed to expand funding for public health and medical research. Upton co-sponsored the original bill.

Upton and DeGette said the new bill, called Cures 2.0, only existed as concept papers for the time being, but they were taking feedback from stakeholders.

In a written statement, they said the nearly 500 comments they had received so far helped them focus on six key areas:

Public health and pandemic preparedness: Improving pandemic surveillance and testing capabilities, and possibly establishing a federal grant program to help patients and families afford the cost of treatment.

Caregiver integration: Creating educational programs and training for caregivers to learn new skills.

Patient engagement in decision-making: Expanding health literacy, vaccine education and access to health information like which treatments are available and how much they’ll cost.

Diversity in clinical trials: Ensuring representative samples in clinical trials to increase the safety and effectiveness of medical products.

Food and Drug Administration modernization: Continuing the work of the 21st Century Cures Act to foster the development of digital health technologies.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services modernization: Updating coverage and care delivery using technological and scientific advances, making service faster and more predictable.

DeGette said she and Upton would like to pass parts of the bill that apply to COVID-19 in the next related pieces of legislature.

“All the provisions in this bill that will apply to the coronavirus,” she said. “We would like to get those passed in one of the next pieces of legislation targeted at the coronavirus. We are working with our committee leadership to identify those issues and move them even faster.”