Medicare Value Purchasing Act of 2005

Bill: 109-s-1356
Sponsor: Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]
Introduced: 2005-06-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Administrative procedure
Case mix (Medical care)
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Department of Health and Human Services
Drugs
Economics and Public Finance
Electronic data interchange
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government trust funds
Governmental investigations
Health information systems
Home care services
Hospital care
Hospital rates
Housing and Community Development
Information technology
Interstate relations
Kidney diseases
Law
Legislation
Licenses
Medical fees
Medical statistics
Medically uninsured
Nursing homes
Physicians
Prescription pricing
Quality of care
Rural health
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Telemedicine

Summary:
action_date: 2005-06-30
text: 
Medicare Value Purchasing (MVP) Act of 2005 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) to add a new part E (Value-Based Purchasing) under which the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall develop measurement systems to provide value-based payments to: (1) hospitals; (2) physicians and practitioners; (3) health plans; (4) end stage renal disease (ESRD) providers and facilities; and (5) home health agencies. 
 
Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) to study how the Medicare value-based purchasing programs will impact Medicare beneficiaries, Medicare providers, and the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund.
 

 
Directs the Secretary to establish a program under which value-based payments are provided each fiscal year to hospitals that demonstrate a high quality health care for inpatients entitled to benefits under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance).
 
Directs the Secretary to make a value-based payment to a hospital with respect to a fiscal year if the Secretary determines that the quality of the care provided in that year to Medicare inpatients: (1) has substantially improved over the prior year; or (2) exceeds a threshold established by the Secretary.
 
Prescribes a formula for the amount of such value-based payments, ranging from 1% of their Medicare payments for FY2007 by specified increments up to 2% for FY2011 and after.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Directs the MEDPAC to study and report to Congress and the Secretary on the advisability and feasibility of establishing Medicare value-based purchasing programs, including ones for prescription drugs and renal dialysis facilities.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a Medicare value-based purchasing demonstration program for critical access hospitals; and (2) a demonstration project to determine the threshold amount of information technology connectivity necessary to improve the ability of rural and frontier physicians and practitioners to collect and use quality of care data.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Outlines a Medicare Advantage Plans value-based purchasing program.
 

 

 

 

 
Amends the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 to direct the Secretary to implement a value-based purchasing program for providers and facilities participating in the demonstration of bundled case-mix adjusted payment system for ESRD services.
 
Requires the Secretary to establish chronic kidney disease demonstration projects.
 

 

 

 
Outlines a value-based purchasing program for home health agencies and for skilled nursing facilities.
 

 
Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on appropriate measures to evaluate the quality of health care provided by skilled nursing facilities to Medicare patients.
 

 

 
Provides for a national health information network pilot project.
 

 

 

 
Requires the Secretary to study and report to Congress on telehealth and telemedicine.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-07-20
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8546)
action_date: 2005-06-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2005-06-30
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 7/1/2005 S7848-7849)
action_date: 2005-06-30
text: Introduced in Senate