Healthy America Act of 2005

Bill: 109-s-4
Sponsor: Sen. Frist, William H. [R-TN]
Introduced: 2005-07-27 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative procedure
American Samoa
Caregivers
Child health
Clinics
Commerce
Communication in medicine
Community health services
Computer matching
Conflict of interests
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Damages
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Employee health benefits
Entrepreneurs
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal preemption
Finance and Financial Sector
Flexible benefit plans
Government Operations and Politics
Governmental investigations
Guam
Health information systems
Health insurance
Higher education
Housing and Community Development
Income tax
Insurance premiums
Labor and Employment
Law
Legal fees
Long-term care insurance
Married people
Medicaid
Medical education
Medical fees
Medical malpractice
Medical savings accounts
Medical statistics
Medically uninsured
Medicare
Minorities
Minority health
Northern Mariana Islands
Physicians
Poor children
Puerto Rico
Punitive damages
Quality of care
Retiree health benefits
Rural health
Scholarships
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Social Welfare
Standards
State laws
Student loan funds
Students
Tax credits
Tax deductions
Taxation
Telemedicine
Trusts and trustees
Virgin Islands

Summary:
action_date: 2005-07-27
text: 
Healthy America Act of 2005 - Patients First Act of 2005 - Sets forth provisions governing health care lawsuits, including provisions establishing a statute of limitations and limiting recovery of non-economic damages and punitive damages.
 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology to develop a nationwide interoperable health information technology infrastructure. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) establish the public-private American Health Information Collaborative; and (2) facilitate the electronic exchange of health information.
 
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary to: (1) develop quality measurement systems to provide value-based payments to providers; (2) establish a value-based purchasing pilot program; and (3) authorize waivers for states to establish such programs for state Medicaid programs.
 
Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 - Requires the Secretary to maintain a patient safety network of databases to accept, aggregate, and analyze non-identifiable patient safety data voluntarily reported by patient safety organizations.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow: (1) an advanceable credit for health insurance; (2) a deduction for premiums under a high deductible health plan; and (3) a credit for a small employer's contribution to an employee's health savings account.
 
Reauthorizes grants to states to create and operate high risk health insurance pools.
 
Covering Kids Act of 2005 - Amends Title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) of the Social Security Act to provide awards for innovative outreach and enrollment efforts.
 
Allows the Secretary to make grants for qualified integrated health care systems that provide care to medically underserved populations. Provides coverage under Medicare and Medicaid for integrated health center services.
 
Allows a forbearance on student loans for volunteering at a free clinic.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-07-27
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S9160-9182)
action_date: 2005-07-27
text: Introduced in Senate