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,

(a) In general.—Title XI of the Social Security Act is amended by inserting after section 1138 the following section:

“(a) Reporting requirement.—

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide that a hospital (as defined in subsection (g)) or ambulatory surgical center meeting the requirements of titles XVIII or XIX may participate in the programs established under such titles only if, in accordance with this section, the hospital or center reports such information on health care-associated infections that develop in the hospital or center (and such demographic information associated with such infections) as the Secretary specifies.

“(2) REPORTING PROTOCOLS.— Such information shall be reported in accordance with reporting protocols established by the Secretary through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (in this section referred to as the ‘CDC’) and to the National Healthcare Safety Network of the CDC or under such another reporting system of such Centers as determined appropriate by the Secretary in consultation with such Director.

“(3) COORDINATION WITH HIT.—The Secretary, through the Director of the CDC and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, shall ensure that the transmission of information under this subsection is coordinated with systems established under the HITECH Act, where appropriate.

“(4) PROCEDURES TO ENSURE THE VALIDITY OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall establish procedures regarding the validity of the information submitted under this subsection in order to ensure that such information is appropriately compared across hospitals and centers. Such procedures shall address failures to report as well as errors in reporting.

“(5) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary, through the Director of CDC, shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section.

“(b) Public posting of information.—The Secretary shall promptly post, on the official public Internet site of the Department of Health and Human Services, the information reported under subsection (a). Such information shall be set forth in a manner that allows for the comparison of information on health care-associated infections—

“(1) among hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers; and

“(2) by demographic information.

“(c) Annual report to Congress.—On an annual basis the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report that summarizes each of the following:

“(1) The number and types of health care-associated infections reported under subsection (a) in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers during such year.

“(2) Factors that contribute to the occurrence of such infections, including health care worker immunization rates.

“(3) Based on the most recent information available to the Secretary on the composition of the professional staff of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, the number of certified infection control professionals on the staff of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.

“(4) The total increases or decreases in health care costs that resulted from increases or decreases in the rates of occurrence of each such type of infection during such year.

“(5) Recommendations, in coordination with the Center for Quality Improvement established under section 931 of the Public Health Service Act, for best practices to eliminate the rates of occurrence of each such type of infection in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.

“(d) Non-preemption of State laws.—Nothing in this section shall be construed as preempting or otherwise affecting any provision of State law relating to the disclosure of information on health care-associated infections or patient safety procedures for a hospital or ambulatory surgical center.

“(e) Health care-associated infection.—For purposes of this section:

“(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘health care-associated infection’ means an infection that develops in a patient who has received care in any institutional setting where health care is delivered and is related to receiving health care.

“(2) RELATED TO RECEIVING HEALTH CARE.—The term ‘related to receiving health care’, with respect to an infection, means that the infection was not incubating or present at the time health care was provided.

“(f) Application to critical access hospitals.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘hospital’ includes a critical access hospital, as defined in section 1861(mm)(1).”.

(b) Effective date.—With respect to section 1138A of the Social Security Act (as inserted by subsection (a) of this section), the requirement under such section that hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers submit reports takes effect on such date (not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act) as the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall specify. In order to meet such deadline, the Secretary may implement such section through guidance or other instructions.

(c) GAO report.—Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on the program established under section 1138A of the Social Security Act, as inserted by subsection (a). Such report shall include an analysis of the appropriateness of the types of information required for submission, compliance with reporting requirements, the success of the validity procedures established, and any conflict or overlap between the reporting required under such section and any other reporting systems mandated by either the States or the Federal Government.

(d) Report on additional data.—Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to the Congress a report on the appropriateness of expanding the requirements under such section to include additional information (such as health care worker immunization rates), in order to improve health care quality and patient safety.