149 
amount that is not less than $1 for each $2 of Fed-
eral funds provided under the grant. 
(2) DETERMINATION
OF
AMOUNT
CONTRIB-
UTED.—Non-Federal contributions under paragraph 
(1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, in-
cluding equipment or services. Amounts provided by 
the Federal Government, or services assisted or sub-
sidized to any significant extent by the Federal Gov-
ernment, may not be included in determining the 
amount of such contributions. 
(e) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall take such ac-
tion as may be necessary to evaluate the projects funded 
under this section and publish, make available, and dis-
seminate the results of such evaluations on as wide a basis 
as is practicable. 
(f) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of this title, and annually thereafter, the Sec-
retary shall submit to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Fi-
nance of the Senate, and the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means of the 
House of Representatives a report that— 
(1) describes the specific projects established 
under this section; and 
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(2) contains recommendations for Congress 
based on the evaluation conducted under subsection 
(e). 
(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 
$2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 and 2010. 
(h) SUNSET.—This provisions of this section shall not 
apply after September 30, 2012. 
SEC. 213. QUALIFIED HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 
SYSTEM DEFINED. 
In this subtitle, the term ‘‘qualified health informa-
tion technology system’’ means a computerized system (in-
cluding hardware and software) that— 
(1) safeguards the privacy, security, and con-
fidentiality of personal health information in accord-
ance with the requirements of title I; 
(2) maintains and provides permitted access to 
health information in an electronic format; 
(3) with respect to personal health information 
maintained in a designated record set, preserves an 
audit trail of each individual that has gained access 
to such record set; 
(4) incorporates decision support to reduce 
medical errors and enhance health care quality; 
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(5) complies with the standards adopted by the 
Federal Government under section 202; 
(6) has the ability to transmit and exchange in-
formation to other health information technology 
systems and, to the extent feasible, public health in-
formation technology systems; and 
(7) allows for the reporting of quality measures 
adopted under section 221. 
Subtitle C—Improving the Quality 
of Health Care 
SEC. 221. FOSTERING DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF HEALTH 
CARE QUALITY MEASURES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for 
the development and use of health care quality measures 
(referred to in this title as ‘‘quality measures’’) for the 
purpose of measuring the quality and efficiency of health 
care that patients receive. 
(b) DESIGNATION OF, AND ARRANGEMENT WITH, 
ORGANIZATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of enactment of this title, the Secretary 
shall designate, and have in effect an arrangement 
with, a single organization that meets the require-
ments of subsection (c) under which such organiza-
tion shall promote the development of quality meas-
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ures and provide the Secretary with advice and rec-
ommendations on the key elements and priorities of 
a national system for healthcare performance meas-
urement. 
(2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities to 
be performed by the organization designated under 
paragraph (1) (in this title referred to as the ‘‘des-
ignated organization’’) shall include— 
(A) establishing and managing an inte-
grated national strategy and process for setting 
priorities and goals in establishing quality 
measures; 
(B) coordinating and harmonizing the de-
velopment and testing of such measures; 
(C) establishing standards for the develop-
ment and testing of such measures; 
(D) endorsing national consensus quality 
measures; 
(E) recommending, in collaboration with 
multi-stakeholder groups, quality measures to 
the Secretary for adoption and use; 
(F) promoting the development and use of 
electronic health records that contain the 
functionality for automated collection, aggrega-
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tion, and transmission of performance measure-
ment information; and 
(G) providing recommendations and advice 
to the Partnership for Health Care Improve-
ment regarding the integration of quality meas-
ures into the certification process outlined 
under section 202 and the American Health In-
formation Community regarding national poli-
cies outlined under section 203. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—The requirements 
described in this subsection are the following: 
(1) PRIVATE ENTITY.—The organization shall 
be a private nonprofit entity that is governed by a 
board of directors and an individual who is des-
ignated as president and chief executive officer. 
(2) BOARD MEMBERSHIP.—The members of the 
board of directors of the entity shall include rep-
resentatives of— 
(A) health care providers or groups rep-
resenting providers; 
(B) health plans or groups representing 
health plans; 
(C) patients or consumers enrolled in such 
plans or groups representing individuals en-
rolled in such plans; 
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