A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Summary: VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2006 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and implement a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. Requires the Secretary, at least semiannually, to publish reports on VA hospital quality, including assessments of effectiveness, safety, timeliness, and efficiency.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act 
of 2006''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to establish the Hospital Quality Report 
Card Initiative under title 38, United States Code, to ensure that 
quality measures data for hospitals administered by the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs are readily available and accessible in order to--
            (1) inform patients and consumers about health care quality 
        in such hospitals;
            (2) assist Veterans Affairs health care providers in 
        identifying opportunities for quality improvement and cost 
        containment; and
            (3) enhance the understanding of policy makers and public 
        officials of health care issues, raise public awareness of 
        hospital quality issues, and to help constituents of such 
        policy makers and officials identify quality health care 
        options.

SEC. 3. VA HOSPITAL QUALITY REPORT CARD INITIATIVE.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter III of chapter 17 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1730A. Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative
    ``(a) Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of 
the VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2006, the Secretary shall 
establish and implement a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative (in 
this section referred to as the `Initiative') to report on health care 
quality in VA hospitals.
    ``(b) For purposes of this section, the term `VA hospital' means a 
hospital administered by the Secretary.
    ``(c)(1)(A) Not less than 2 times each year, the Secretary shall 
publish reports on VA hospital quality. Such reports shall include 
quality measures data that allow for an assessment of health care--
            ``(i) effectiveness;
            ``(ii) safety;
            ``(iii) timeliness;
            ``(iv) efficiency;
            ``(v) patient-centeredness; and
            ``(vi) equity.
    ``(B) In collecting and reporting data as provided for under 
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall include VA hospital information, 
as possible, relating to--
            ``(i) staffing levels of nurses and other health 
        professionals, as appropriate;
            ``(ii) rates of nosocomial infections;
            ``(iii) the volume of various procedures performed;
            ``(iv) hospital sanctions and other violations;
            ``(v) the quality of care for various patient populations, 
        including female, geriatric, disabled, rural, homeless, 
        mentally ill, and racial and ethnic minority populations;
            ``(vi) the availability of emergency rooms, intensive care 
        units, maternity care, and specialty services;
            ``(vii) the quality of care in various hospital settings, 
        including inpatient, outpatient, emergency, maternity, and 
        intensive care unit settings;
            ``(viii) ongoing patient safety initiatives; and
            ``(ix) other measures determined appropriate by the 
        Secretary.
    ``(C)(i) In reporting data as provided for under subparagraph (A), 
the Secretary may risk adjust quality measures to account for 
differences relating to--
            ``(I) the characteristics of the reporting VA hospital, 
        such as licensed bed size, geography, and teaching hospital 
        status; and
            ``(II) patient characteristics, such as health status, 
        severity of illness, and socioeconomic status.
    ``(ii) If the Secretary reports data under subparagraph (A) using 
risk-adjusted quality measures, the Secretary shall establish 
procedures for making the unadjusted data available to the public in a 
manner determined appropriate by the Secretary.
    ``(D) Under the Initiative, the Secretary may verify data reported 
under this paragraph to ensure accuracy and validity.
    ``(E) The Secretary shall disclose the entire methodology for the 
reporting of data under this paragraph to all relevant organizations 
and VA hospitals that are the subject of any such information that is 
to be made available to the public prior to the public disclosure of 
such information.
    ``(F)(i) The Secretary shall submit each report to the appropriate 
committees of Congress.
    ``(ii) The Secretary shall ensure that reports are made available 
under this section in an electronic format, in an understandable manner 
with respect to various populations (including those with low 
functional health literacy), and in a manner that allows health care 
quality comparisons to be made with local hospitals or regional 
hospitals, as appropriate.
    ``(iii) The Secretary shall establish procedures for making report 
findings available to the public, upon request, in a non-electronic 
format, such as through a toll-free telephone number.
    ``(G) The analytic methodologies and limitations on data sources 
utilized by the Secretary to develop and disseminate the comparative 
data under this section shall be identified and acknowledged as part of 
the dissemination of such data, and include the appropriate and 
inappropriate uses of such data.
    ``(H) On at least an annual basis, the Secretary shall compare 
quality measures data submitted by each VA hospital with data submitted 
in the prior year or years by the same hospital in order to identify 
and report actions that would lead to false or artificial improvements 
in the hospital's quality measurements.
    ``(2)(A) The Secretary shall develop and implement effective 
safeguards to protect against the unauthorized use or disclosure of VA 
hospital data that is reported under this section.
    ``(B) The Secretary shall develop and implement effective 
safeguards to protect against the dissemination of inconsistent, 
incomplete, invalid, inaccurate, or subjective VA hospital data.
    ``(C) The Secretary shall ensure that identifiable patient data 
shall not be released to the public.
    ``(d)(1) The Secretary shall evaluate and periodically submit a 
report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Initiative, including 
the effectiveness of the Initiative in meeting the purpose described in 
section 2 of the VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2006. The 
Secretary shall make such reports available to the public.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall use the outcomes from the evaluation 
conducted pursuant to paragraph (1) to increase the usefulness of the 
Initiative.
    ``(e) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
section such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2007 
through 2016.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 1730 the following new item:

        ``1730A. Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative.''.