Health TEQ Act of 2005

Bill: 109-s-1262
Sponsor: Sen. Frist, William H. [R-TN]
Introduced: 2005-06-16 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Armed Forces and National Security
Biological warfare
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Communicable diseases
Communication in medicine
Computer software
Computers
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer education
Cost control
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Electronic data interchange
Executive reorganization
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to health facilities
Government Operations and Politics
Government trust funds
Governmental investigations
Grants-in-aid
Health information systems
Health insurance
Health services administration
Interstate relations
Licenses
Medicaid
Medical economics
Medical fees
Medical malpractice
Medical records
Medical statistics
Medically uninsured
Medicare
Military medicine
Physicians
Poor children
Presidential appointments
Quality of care
Right of privacy
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Standards
State laws
Telemedicine
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2005-06-16
text: 
Health Technology to Enhance Quality Act of 2005 or the Health TEQ Act of 2005 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology to carry out programs and activities to develop a nationwide interoperable health information technology infrastructure.
 
Requires the Coordinator to establish a permanent Electronic Health Information Standards Development Working Group to review existing standards, identify deficiencies, and recommend modifications. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to review and provide for the adoption by the federal government of any recommended modification or standard.
 
Requires the Secretary to develop criteria to: (1) ensure uniform and consistent implementation of any standards voluntarily adopted by private entities; and (2) ensure and certify hardware, software, and support services compliance with adopted standards.
 
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Coordinator, to direct and coordinate federal spending related to the electronic exchange of health information and the adoption of recommendations of the Working Group.
 
Prohibits any federal agency from expending federal funds to purchase hardware, software, or support services for implementation of a standard related to the electronic exchange of health information that is not an adopted standard.
 
Allows the Secretary to award grants for the implementation of regional or local health information plans. Requires the Secretary to establish: (1) a safe harbor for group purchasing of hardware, software, and support services; and (2) guidelines that permit certain arrangements between health plans and issuers and health care providers.
 
Requires the heads of relevant federal agencies to adopt and review uniform health care quality measures. 
 
Requires the Secretary to establish a Medicare value based purchasing pilot program and authorize waivers for states to establish value based purchasing programs for state Medicaid programs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-07-21
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8591)
action_date: 2005-07-18
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8393-8394)
action_date: 2005-06-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (text of measure as introduced: CR S6754-6758)
action_date: 2005-06-16
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S6752-6754)
action_date: 2005-06-16
text: Introduced in Senate