Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act

Bill: 114-s-466
Sponsor: Sen. Stabenow, Debbie [D-MI]
Introduced: 2015-02-11 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Child health
Government information and archives
Health care costs and insurance
Health care quality
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Health programs administration and funding
Medicaid
Performance measurement
State and local government operations
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2015-02-11
text: 

Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act

 
 Amends title XI of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as part of the pediatric quality measures program and the Medicaid Quality Measurement Program (MQMP), to: (1) review certain quality measures endorsed under the Medicare program under SSAct XVIII that relate to the care of childbearing women and newborns, particularly with respect to their application to the programs under SSAct title XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP), identifying omissions and deficiencies in such applications; (2) develop and publish a set of maternity care quality measures for the Medicaid and CHIP programs in accordance with specified requirements; and (3) review the Mother and Infant Care (MIC) quality measures and develop, on an ongoing basis, any modifications of, or additions to, them that reflect the development, testing, validation, and consensus process.
 
Directs the Secretary to enter into grants, contracts, or intergovernmental agreements with qualified measure development entities to: (1) identify quality of care issues that are not adequately addressed by the MIC quality measures; and (2) develop, test, and validate modifications of such measures.
 
Requires a qualified measure development entity with such a grant, contract, or intergovernmental agreement to consult with voluntary consensus standards setting organizations and other organizations involved in the advancement of evidence-based measures of health to create, as part of the MIC quality measures, eMeasures (for which measurement data, including clinical data, will be collected electronically) aligned with the measures developed under the pediatric quality measures program and the MQMP. 
Requires the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to adapt the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems program surveys of providers, facilities, and health plans to ensure that the adapted surveys are effective in measuring aspects of care that childbearing women and newborns experience.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities to support: (1) the development of new state and regional maternity care quality collaboratives; (2) expanded activities of existing maternity care quality collaboratives; and (3) maternity care initiatives within established state and regional quality collaboratives that are not focused exclusively on maternity care. 

action_date: 2015-07-30
text: 

Quality Care for Moms and Babies Act

 
(Sec. 2) This bill amends title XI of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to:
 
 
identify and publish a recommended core set of maternal and infant quality measures for women and children in the same manner as it identifies and publishes a core set of child health quality measures;
 
publish an initial core set of any such measures applicable to mothers and infants eligible under SSAct titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP);
 
develop a standardized format for reporting information based on the initial core set and create procedures to encourage states to use these measures to report voluntarily information regarding the quality of health care for Medicaid and CHIP eligible mothers and infants;
 
establish a Maternal and Infant Quality Measurement Program; and
 
publish recommended changes to the initial core set of measures that shall reflect the results of the testing, validation, and consensus process for their development.
 
 
Any entity awarded a grant or contract by HHS to develop emerging and innovative evidence-based measures under the Maternal and Infant Quality Measurement Program shall work to advance eMeasures aligned with those developed under the Pediatric Quality Measures Program and the Medicaid Quality Measurement Program.
 
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shall adapt the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems program surveys of providers, facilities, and health plans to ensure that the adapted surveys are effective in measuring aspects of care that childbearing women and newborns experience.
 
States with an approved Medicaid or CHIP plan or waiver shall report annually to HHS regarding state specific maternal and infant quality of care measures applied.
 
(Sec. 3) HHS may make grants to eligible entities to support:
 
 
the development of new state and regional maternity and infant care quality collaboratives;
 
expanded activities of existing collaboratives; and
 
maternity and infant care initiatives within established state and regional quality collaboratives that are not focused exclusively on maternity care. 
 
 
An online, open-access clearinghouse shall be established to make protocols, procedures, reports, tools, and other resources of individual collaboratives available to collaboratives and other entities working to improve maternity and infant care quality.
 
(Sec. 4) The consensus-based entity regarding performance measurement with which HHS must contract shall facilitate increased coordination and alignment between the public and private sector with respect to quality and efficiency measures.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2015-07-30
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 179.
action_date: 2015-07-30
text: Committee on Finance. Reported by Senator Hatch with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-100.
action_date: 2015-07-30
text: Committee on Finance. Reported by Senator Hatch with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-100.
action_date: 2015-06-24
text: Committee on Finance. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
action_date: 2015-02-11
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2015-02-11
text: Introduced in Senate