Index for HR3962: Affordable Health Care for America Act

To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.

Mr. Dingell (for himself, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Waxman, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Stark, Mr. Pallone, and Mr. Andrews) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Oversight and Government Reform, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

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

Part E of title XI of the Social Security Act, as added by section 1441, is amended by adding at the end the following new sections:

“(a) Agreements with qualified entities.—

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall enter into agreements with qualified entities to develop quality measures for the delivery of health care services in the United States.

“(2) FORM OF AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary may carry out paragraph (1) by contract, grant, or otherwise.

“(3) RECOMMENDATIONS OF CONSENSUS-BASED ENTITY.—In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall—

“(A) seek public input; and

“(B) take into consideration recommendations of the consensus-based entity with a contract with the Secretary under section 1890(a).

“(b) Determination of areas where quality measures are required.—Consistent with the national priorities established under this part and with the programs administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies, the Secretary shall determine areas in which quality measures for assessing health care services in the United States are needed.

“(c) Development of quality measures.—

“(1) PATIENT-CENTERED AND POPULATION-BASED MEASURES.—In entering into agreements under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to the development of quality measures that allow the assessment of—

“(A) health outcomes, presence of impairment, and functional status of patients;

“(B) the continuity and coordination of care and care transitions for patients across providers and health care settings, including end of life care;

“(C) patient experience and patient engagement;

“(D) the safety, effectiveness, and timeliness of care;

“(E) health disparities including those associated with individual race, ethnicity, age, gender, place of residence or language; and

“(F) the efficiency and resource use in the provision of care.

“(2) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity that enters into an agreement under subsection (a) shall develop quality measures that—

“(A) to the extent feasible, have the ability to be collected through the use of health information technologies supporting better delivery of health care services; and

“(B) are available free of charge to users for the use of such measures.

“(3) AVAILABILITY OF MEASURES.—The Secretary shall make quality measures developed under this section available to the public.

“(4) TESTING OF PROPOSED MEASURES.—The Secretary may use amounts made available under subsection (f) to fund the testing of proposed quality measures by qualified entities. Testing funded under this paragraph shall include testing of the feasibility and usability of proposed measures.

“(5) UPDATING OF ENDORSED MEASURES.—The Secretary may use amounts made available under subsection (f) to fund the updating (and testing, if applicable) by consensus-based entities of quality measures that have been previously endorsed by such an entity as new evidence is developed, in a manner consistent with section 1890(b)(3).

“(d) Qualified entities.—Before entering into agreements with a qualified entity, the Secretary shall ensure that the entity is a public, private, or academic institution with technical expertise in the area of health quality measurement.

“(e) Application for grant.—A grant may be made under this section only if an application for the grant is submitted to the Secretary and the application is in such form, is made in such manner, and contains such agreements, assurances, and information as the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry out this section.

“(f) Funding.—

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for the transfer, from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund under section 1817 and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund under section 1841 (in such proportion as the Secretary determines appropriate), of $25,000,000, to the Secretary for purposes of carrying out this section for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

“(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For purposes of carrying out the provisions of this section, in addition to funds otherwise available, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services $25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014.

“(a) GAO evaluations.—The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct periodic evaluations of the implementation of the data collection processes for quality measures used by the Secretary.

“(b) Considerations.—In carrying out the evaluation under subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall determine—

“(1) whether the system for the collection of data for quality measures provides for validation of data as relevant and scientifically credible;

“(2) whether data collection efforts under the system use the most efficient and cost-effective means in a manner that minimizes administrative burden on persons required to collect data and that adequately protects the privacy of patients’ personal health information and provides data security;

“(3) whether standards under the system provide for an appropriate opportunity for physicians and other clinicians and institutional providers of services to review and correct findings; and

“(4) the extent to which quality measures are consistent with section 1192(c)(1) or result in direct or indirect costs to users of such measures.

“(c) Report.—The Comptroller General shall submit reports to Congress and to the Secretary containing a description of the findings and conclusions of the results of each such evaluation.”.