II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1729 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for independent 

accreditation for dialysis facilities and assurances of high quality surveys. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 2, 2017 

Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. 

YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide 

for independent accreditation for dialysis facilities and 

assurances of high quality surveys. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dialysis Access Im5 provement Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT ACCREDITATION FOR DIALYSIS FA7 CILITIES AND ASSURANCE OF HIGH QUALITY 

8 SURVEYS. 

9 (a) ACCREDITATION AND SURVEYS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1865 of the Social 

2 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395bb) is amended— 

3 (A) in subsection (a)— 

4 (i) in paragraph (1), in the matter 

5 preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 

6 ‘‘or the conditions and requirements under 

7 section 1881(b)’’; and 

8 (ii) in paragraph (4), by inserting 

9 ‘‘(including a renal dialysis facility)’’ after 

10 ‘‘facility’’; and 

11 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

12 subsection: 

13 ‘‘(e) With respect to an accreditation body that has 

14 received approval from the Secretary under subsection 

15 (a)(3)(A) for accreditation of provider entities that are re16 quired to meet the conditions and requirements under sec17 tion 1881(b), in addition to review and oversight authori18 ties otherwise applicable under this title, the Secretary 

19 shall (as the Secretary determines appropriate) conduct, 

20 with respect to such accreditation body and provider enti21 ties, any or all of the following as frequently as is other22 wise required to be conducted under this title with respect 

23 to other accreditation bodies or other provider entities: 

24 ‘‘(1) Validation surveys referred to in sub25 section (d). 


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1 ‘‘(2) Accreditation program reviews (as defined 

2 in section 488.8(c) of title 42 of the Code of Federal 

3 Regulations, or a successor regulation). 

4 ‘‘(3) Performance reviews (as defined in section 

5 488.8(a) of title 42 of the Code of Federal Regula6 tions, or a successor regulation).’’. 

7 (2) TIMING FOR ACCEPTANCE OF REQUESTS

8 FROM ACCREDITATION ORGANIZATIONS.—Not later 

9 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this 

10 Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

11 shall begin accepting requests from national accredi12 tation bodies for a finding described in section 

13 1865(a)(3)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 1395bb(a)(3)(A)) for purposes of accrediting pro15 vider entities that are required to meet the condi16 tions and requirements under section 1881(b) of 

17 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395rr(b)). 

18 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR TIMING OF SURVEYS OF

19 NEW DIALYSIS FACILITIES.—Section 1881(b)(1) of the 

20 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395rr(b)(1)) is amended 

21 by adding at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Begin22 ning 180 days after the date of the enactment of this sen23 tence, an initial survey of a provider of services or a renal 

24 dialysis facility to determine if the conditions and require25 ments under this paragraph are met shall be initiated not 


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1 later than 90 days after such date on which both the pro2 vider enrollment form (without regard to whether such 

3 form is submitted prior to or after such date of enactment) 

4 has been determined by the Secretary to be complete and 

5 the provider’s enrollment status indicates approval is 

6 pending the results of such survey.’’. 

Æ 


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