Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2012

Bill: 112-s-3684
Sponsor: Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]
Introduced: 2012-12-17 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Advisory bodies
Congressional oversight
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Health care quality
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health promotion and preventive care
Hospital care
Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
Medicaid
Medicare
Nursing

Summary:
action_date: 2012-12-17
text: 
Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2012 - Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for Medicare and Medicaid coverage of advanced illness care coordination services.
 
Amends the Public Health Services Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), directly or through grants, to conduct a national public education campaign to: (1) raise public awareness of the importance of planning for care through the life cycle and as illness progress; (2) explain the need for readily available legal documents and medical orders that express an individual's wishes through advance directives and other planning tools; and (3) educate the public about the availability of advanced illness care, palliative care, and hospice care. 
 
Directs the Secretary to provide for multiple, innovative communications resources, including a toll-free information line, that the public and health care professionals may access to find out state-specific information regarding advance directives and end-of-life decisions.
 
Includes advanced care planning materials in the &quot;Medicare and You Handbook.&quot;
 
Directs the Secretary to establish the Senior Navigation Advisory Board.
 
Requires that a service provider, Medicare+Choice organization, or prepaid or eligible organization maintain written policies and procedures with respect to all adult individuals receiving medical care by or through them to provide each individual with the opportunity to discuss issues relating to the information provided to that individual on the individual's rights with an appropriately trained professional. 
 
Requires a service provider, Medicare Advantage organization, or prepaid or eligible organization to give effect to an advance directive or order validy executed outside the state in which such directive is presented (portability).
 
Imposes similar requirements for facilities.
 
Directs the Secretary to study the extent to which the assessment of individuals by hospitals, skilled nursing facililties, hospice programs, home health agencies, and applicable providers of advanced illlness care coordination services accurately reflects the actual diagnosis and care plan, including care coordination, of the individual at the time of discharge. 
 
Provides incentive payments to hospitals for accreditation and certification in hospice and palliative care.
 
Directs the Secretary to conduct a pilot program under Medicare to test the use of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services discharge checklist.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish and maintain a website that provides information, online training, and instructional materials for entities on advance care planning. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to entities to develop and provide services for terminally ill individuals who are receiving hospice care in their own homes.
 
Directs the Secretary to study state and regional activities with respect to storing advance directives and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, and the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the provisions of this Act and their asociated quality and costs (such as individual and family experience, individual understanding of treatment choices, and any decrease in avoidable hospital admissions).


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-12-17
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2012-12-17
text: Introduced in Senate