in national health costs and investing resources in better care.
  However, the lack of guidance disrupts operations and means digital
reporting has yet to lighten the load for many medical providers.

                              {time}  1450

  This bipartisan bill provides stability for quality measure reporting
and flexibility for smaller provider practices. It also establishes a
pilot program for digital reporting to determine best practices.
  This policy is particularly helpful for over 12,000 small, rural, or
independent providers who are committed to lowering costs and improving
patient outcomes but often lack the sophisticated software needed to
comply with the digital reporting regime.
  Medical providers should not waste precious resources and man-hours
on reporting data to Washington bureaucrats when the need for patient
care is so great. This bill ensures that ACOs can put quality patient
care first.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5347, the Health Care
Efficiency Through Flexibility Act, which was introduced by two of my
good friends, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Buchanan) and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Panetta).
  Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense, bipartisan bill to improve care
for Medicare patients while reducing burdens on healthcare providers.
The bill does this by expanding quality reporting options for
accountable care organizations.
  These organizations, accountable care organizations, are groups of
doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare professionals who work
together with the aim of providing better care to patients on Medicare.
They do this by coordinating their efforts and sharing information with
one another rather than working separately.
  These organizations were created under the Affordable Care Act to
improve healthcare quality and to lower costs. When an accountable care
organization is able to improve care and reduce costs, they get to
share in the savings generated.
  The legislation would provide for a wider variety of quality measure
reporting methods to be used in Medicare through the year 2029. It also
creates a digital quality measure pilot program to ensure that any
transition to digital quality measures continues to assess care quality
and reduce burdens for providers.
  The Health Care Efficiency Through Flexibility Act is supported by
the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations, America's
Physician Groups, Epic Systems, Oracle Health, Accountable for Health,
and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
  Doctors in my district tell me, like many of my colleagues, all the
time that they want to spend more time caring for their patients and
less time with paperwork and medical records systems. Today's
physicians are bogged down in insurance paperwork and are severely
underpaid because Medicare reimbursement rates have not kept up with
the rate of inflation.
  Physicians work incredibly hard every day to care for us and our
loved ones in our communities, and they deserve to be supported so that
they can continue to provide quality care for patients across the
country.
  This bill is a step toward ensuring that physicians have the support
they need to provide the best care possible for their parents. The
Health Care Efficiency Through Flexibility Act received unanimous
support from the members of the House Ways and Means Committee, and I
urge my colleagues to support this bill on the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Buchanan), the vice chairman
of the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mr. BUCHANAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his incredible
leadership over the years.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bill, the Health Care
Efficiency Through Flexibility Act, which helps minimize burdens on
value-based care organizations.
  We must move away from fee-for-service. As someone who has been in
business for a long time, the incentives are wrong. That is part of the
problem. The more you do, the more you make. The sicker you are, the
more you make, and I just don't like it. Not to say that doctors take
advantage of it, but the incentives are wrong, and we need to fix that.
  That is why I am in strong support of accountable care organizations.
Americans are served better, and the focus needs to be on quality of
care, not quantity. As our health system continues shifting toward
value-based care, we need to do everything we can to make healthcare
more supportive, especially in ACOs.
  ACOs and Medicare share a portion of it in terms of the program. They
save approximately $2 billion annually. My bill ensures a smooth
transition to digital reporting so physicians can be more focused on
their patients themselves.
  I thank Mr. Panetta for his bipartisan leadership and for helping me,
working together on this. I thank Leader Scalise and the whip for
letting me bring this to the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Health Care
Efficiency Through Flexibility Act.
  Mr. SUOZZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5347, the Health Care Efficiency Through
Flexibility Act, is a commonsense, bipartisan bill to provide more
flexibility when accountable care organizations report on the care they
provide to their patients.
  This bill ensures that the CMS provides a smooth transition as it
improves these reporting requirements, thereby reducing confusion and
administrative burdens for physicians who are with us at the most
vulnerable times in our lives.
  While Congress continues to work on other legislation to address
physician payment issues and more, I urge my colleagues to support this
bill that Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Panetta have worked on together in a
bipartisan fashion. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill before us today was approved with total
support by Ways and Means Republicans and Democrats. The purpose of
value-based care is to implement solutions to some of this Nation's
most pressing health challenges, including the high cost of care.
  Digital reporting of quality measures holds the promise of relieving
the administrative costs associated with accountable care
organizations. However, that potential does not do doctors, patients,
or taxpayers any good when the rules and timeline for digital reporting
of quality measures are uncertain.
  Ultimately, this bill keeps medical providers at accountable care
organizations focused on providing better healthcare at a lower cost.
That eliminates the potential distraction of complying with new digital
reporting requirements that are yet to be finalized.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bost). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 5347, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                              {time}  1500
                TRIA PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2026

  Mr. FLOOD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 7128) to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program, and for
other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7128