Quality, Efficiency, Standards, and Technology for Health Care Transformation Act of 2004

Bill: 108-hr-4880
Sponsor: Rep. Kennedy, Patrick J. [D-RI-1]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the House
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Accreditation (Medical care)
Administrative fees
Administrative procedure
Armed Forces and National Security
Auditing
Authorization
Biological warfare
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Coinsurance
Commerce
Communication in medicine
Community health services
Computer software
Computers
Conflict of interests
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Crime and Law Enforcement
Data banks
Department of Defense
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Veterans Affairs
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Electronic data interchange
Employee health benefits
Encryption
Epidemiology
Executive reorganization
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to research
Federal employees
Government Operations and Politics
Government employees' health insurance
Government lending
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Graduate education
Grants-in-aid
Group medical practice
Health care industry
Health information systems
Health maintenance organizations
Health planning
Health surveys
Higher education
Hospital rates
Hospitals
Identification devices
Information technology
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Labor and Employment
Law
Managed care
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical ethics
Medical fees
Medical laboratories
Medical records
Medical research
Medical statistics
Medical technology
Medicare
Military medicine
Nursing education
Nursing homes
Patient satisfaction
Patients' rights
Performance measurement
Pharmacies
Physicians
Public health
Quality of care
Research grants
Restrictive trade practices
Right of privacy
Scholarships
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Standards
Terrorism
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
Josie King Act of 2004 or Quality, Efficiency, Standards, and Technology for Health Care Transformation Act of 2004 - Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) to award grants and offer loans to health information infrastructure organizations and States to develop, implement, and maintain health information exchanges. 
 
Requires the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veteran Affairs to: (1) adopt data standards for the interoperability of health information technology systems; and (2) incorporate measures of health care practitioner performance into their health care programs.
 
Requires the Secretary to establish a methodology for adjusting Medicare payments for providers who participate in a health information exchange or use other such technology.
 
Requires the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Resources and Quality to enter into an agreement with the Institute of Medicine to establish the Consortium for Health Outcomes Research Priorities to: (1) establish priorities for research relating to the effectiveness and efficiency of health care; and (2) identify priorities for developing standardized measures of health care provider performance.
 
Allows the Director to award grants for scholarships to health care professionals to earn advanced degrees in the field of health care quality and patient safety.
 
Requires the Secretary to establish a claims-based and a clinical-based practitioner performance database. Allows group health plans to submit data to the claims-based database in exchange for Medicare claims data. Requires such contributions to the database after 4 years. Allows health care practitioners to submit data to the clinical-based database.
 
Allows the Secretary to provide for Medicare payment adjustments based on performance measurements of physicians and institutions.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-09-07
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2004-07-22
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 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.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 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.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 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.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H1441-1442)
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in House