jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-12-19 00:00:00

Steps Toward Access and Reform Act of 2013 or STAR Act of 2013 - Limits the commencement of a health care lawsuit, except in certain cases including fraud or intentional concealment, to three years after the date of manifestation of injury or one year after the claimant discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury, whichever occurs first.

Limits to $250,000 the amount of noneconomic damages in such a lawsuit, but allows a claim for the full amount of any economic damages.

Requires the court, in any health care lawsuit, to supervise the arrangements for payment of damages to protect against conflicts of interest that may have the effect of reducing the amount of damages awarded that are actually paid to claimants.

Allows any party in any health care lawsuit involving injury or wrongful death to introduce evidence of collateral source benefits.

Specifies criteria for the award of punitive damages, limited to the greater of $250,000 or double the amount of economic damages.

Preempts state law with respect to health care lawsuits, but subjects to otherwise applicable state or federal law any issue not governed by this Act or any law (including state standards of negligence) established by or under it.

Declares the sense of Congress that a health insurer should be liable for damages for harm caused when it makes a decision as to what care is medically necessary and appropriate.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to contract with eligible health professionals to serve for a period of at least four years as a primary care provider in a medically underserved community, in consideration for which the Secretary shall pay up to $100,000 on the principal and interest on the individual's graduate medical, osteopathic, or other health professional educational loans.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a bad debt deduction from gross income for worthless qualified medical care debt of at least 75% of a tax-paying medical care provider's charge for such care.

Prohibits the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from taking action to prevent an individual not in the business of importing a prescription drug from importing one from Canada that complies with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Amends the Public Health Service Act to declare that the laws of the state designated by a health insurance issuer (primary state) shall apply to individual health insurance coverage offered by that issuer in the primary state and in any other state (secondary state), but only if the coverage and issuer comply with conditions of this Act.

Prohibits a health insurance issuer from offering, selling, or issuing individual health insurance coverage in a secondary state if its insurance commissioner does not use a risk-based capital formula for determining capital and surplus requirements for all health insurance issuers.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2014-01-16 00:00:00

Protecting Seniors from Health Care Fraud Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the HHS Office of Inspector General, and the Attorney General to report annually to Congress and the public on health care fraud schemes targeted to seniors and steps being taken to combat such schemes and to educate seniors about them.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) disseminate such reports through mechanisms that reach the most Medicare beneficiaries, and (2) mail to each Medicare beneficiary a list of the top 10 most prevalent health care fraud schemes.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2014-03-13 00:00:00

Preventing Unnecessary Medicare Payments (PUMP) Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) apply Medicare competitive bidding to vacuum erection systems, and (2) require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to phase-in a national mail order program for such devices.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2014-05-20 00:00:00

Stop Schemes and Crimes Against Medicare and Seniors (Stop SCAMS) Act - Amends title XI of the Social Security Act with respect to standards for financial and administrative transactions and their data elements to enable the electronic exchange of health information.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adopt standards that: (1) ensure that any entity producing and transmitting valid transactions that include code sets for appropriate data elements is subject to a consistent, industry-wide framework that supports a seamless transition to new and modified code sets; and (2) establish an end-to-end testing procedure for new and modified code sets that shall require the participation of any entity producing and transmitting valid transactions that use the new or modified code set.

Prohibits the Secretary from adopting a new or modified code set unless the Secretary: (1) assesses its impact on fraud prevention and pre-payment review, determines that anti-fraud edits work as intended, and confirms that a plan is in place to ensure continuing effective detection of fraud following the adoption of the code set; (2) ensures that the end-to-end testing procedure established has been completed; and (3) completes end-to-end testing with any federal government entity that produces and transmits valid transactions that include the code set with private sector tracking partners. Exempts routine, regularly scheduled updates to existing code sets from such prohibition.

Directs the Secretary, with respect to information supplied to it by a disclosing entity about those with an ownership or control interest in the entity, to verify such information in a specified manner and confirm the accuracy of any Social Security account number or employer identification number.

Holds immune from civil liability (in a safe harbor) any non-governmental entity participating in a Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership, including private insurers, for sharing information about potentially fraudulent providers with each other, HHS, the Department of Justice (DOJ), any other federal or state law enforcement agency, any federal or state agency contractor, and another Partnership participant.

Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) to study administrative efforts to strengthen program integrity in the Medicare program.

Amends the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, with respect to the use of predictive modeling and other analytics technologies to identify and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare fee-for-service program, to require predictive analytics technologies to capture outcome information on civil recoveries, administrative actions, and criminal convictions for fraud.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2014-06-03 00:00:00

VA Accountability Act of 2014 - Prohibits any officer, employee, or agent of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from:

 knowingly falsifying an individual's VA health records; knowingly destroying or excluding information from such records with the intent to defraud the individual, a federal officer or employee, or a Member of Congress; directing another individual to engage in such prohibited conduct; or knowing of such prohibited conduct by an individual under his or her supervision and failing to stop, if possible, or report to a superior the commission of such conduct. Allows an individual aggrieved by such conduct to bring a civil action against the officer, employee, or agent in an appropriate U.S. district court for damages or other legal or equitable relief.

Authorizes the VA Secretary to terminate, without prior notice or cause, the employment and benefits of a VA officer, employee, or agent found by such court to have violated this Act.

Provides that this Act shall apply to conduct committed before, on, or after its enactment.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-01-06 00:00:00

Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2015

Prohibits the McCarran-Ferguson Act from being construed to permit health insurance or medical malpractice insurance issuers to engage in price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations in connection with providing health insurance or medical malpractice coverage.

Amends the McCarran-Ferguson Act to provide that nothing in it modifies, impairs, or supersedes the operation of antitrust laws with respect to the business of health insurance.

Applies prohibitions of unfair methods of competition to the business of health insurance without regard to whether the business is for profit.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-01-09 00:00:00

MAC Transparency Act 

Amends part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require each contract entered into with a prescription drug plan (PDP) sponsor with respect to a PDP the sponsor offers to prohibit the PDP from entering into a contract with any pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) to manage the prescription drug coverage provided under such plan, or to control the costs of the prescription drug coverage under it, unless the PBM adheres to specified criteria when handling personally identifiable utilization and claims data or other sensitive patient data.

Revises requirements for contracts with PDP sponsors to require that the PDP sponsor disclose to applicable pharmacies the sources used for making any update of the prescription drug pricing standard, and if the source for such a standard is not publicly available, disclose to such pharmacies all individual drug prices to be so updated in advance of their use for the reimbursement of claims. Requires the PDP sponsor, as well, to establish a process to appeal, investigate, and resolve disputes regarding individual drug prices that are less than the pharmacy acquisition price for a drug.

Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD), with respect to the TRICARE retail pharmacy program, to ensure that a contract entered into with a TRICARE managed care support contractor includes requirements to ensure the provision of information regarding the pricing standard for prescription drugs.

Establishes criteria to which a carrier and a PBM must adhere under a contract or an approved plan under which the carrier has an agreement with the PBM to manage prescription drug coverage or to control the costs of such coverage.

Prohibits a PBM under such criteria from: (1) transmitting to a pharmacy owned by the PBM any personally identifiable utilization or claims data relating to an enrolled individual who has not voluntarily elected in writing or via secure electronic means to fill that particular prescription at such a pharmacy; or (2) requiring any enrolled individual to use a retail pharmacy, mail order pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, or other pharmacy entity in which the PBM has an ownership interest, or that has an ownership interest in the PBM, or give an incentive to encourage an enrollee to use the pharmacy if the incentive applies only to those pharmacies.

Requires any contract or approved plan providing for a reimbursement standard with respect to a PDP to require the carrier to: (1) update the standard at least once every seven days to reflect the market price of a drug accurately; (2) disclose to pharmacies the sources used for making any such update; (3) make advance disclosure to those pharmacies of all individual drug prices to be updated if the source for a standard is not publicly available; and (4) establish a process to appeal, investigate, and resolve disputes regarding individual drug prices less than the pharmacy acquisition price.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-02-11 00:00:00

Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2015

Amends the Public Health Service Act to shield a health care professional from liability under federal or state law for harm caused by any act or omission if: (1) the professional is serving as a volunteer in response to a disaster; and (2) the act or omission occurs during the period of the disaster, in the professional's capacity as a volunteer, and in a good faith belief that the individual being treated is in need of health care services.

Makes exceptions where: (1) the harm was caused by an act or omission constituting willful or criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the individual harmed; or (2) the professional rendered the health care services under the influence of alcohol or an intoxicating drug.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-02-12 00:00:00

Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill extends the liability insurance coverage of a state-licensed medical professional to another state when the professional provides medical services to an athlete, athletic team, or team staff member pursuant to a written agreement. Prior to providing such services, the medical professional must disclose the nature and extent of the services to the insurer. This extension of coverage does not apply at a health care facility or while a medical professional licensed in the state is transporting the injured individual to a health care facility.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-13 00:00:00

Truth in Healthcare Marketing Act of 2015

This bill prohibits any person from making any statement or engaging in any act that misrepresents: (1) whether the person holds a state health care license; or (2) the person's education, training, degree, license, or clinical expertise.

A person's advertisement for the person's health care services must disclose the license under which the person is authorized to provide those services.

A violation of this Act is an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

 The Federal Trade Commission must study and report to Congress on health care professionals' misrepresentations under this Act.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-29 00:00:00

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to revise the conditions for state use of an independent enrollment broker in marketing Medicaid managed care organizations and other managed care entities to eligible individuals.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services must find that the broker has also established and maintains policies and procedures to ensure the independence of its enrollment activities from the interests of any managed care entity or provider.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) with respect to the practices of recovery audit contractors (RACs) under the Medicare program fin identifying underpayments and overpayments and recouping overpayments.

Incentive payments to a RAC for recovery activities are prohibited for FY2015 and subsequent fiscal years.

Payments for recovery activities shall be reduced, according to a sliding scale established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to any RAC with a complex audit denial rate at the end of a fiscal year, determined pursuant to a specified formula, that is .1% or greater.

The one-year timely filing limit for certain rebilled SSAct title XVIII part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) claims is eliminated, extending the deadline for the rebill to 180 days after final denial of the claim.

A determination of whether inpatient hospital services or inpatient critical access hospital services furnished to an individual are reasonable and necessary shall now be based solely on information available to the admitting physician at the time of the inpatient admission of the individual for such services, as documented in the medical record.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-19 00:00:00

This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a third-party quality system assessment program to accredit persons to assess whether a medical device manufacturer's quality system can ensure the safety and effectiveness of an approved medical device after certain changes, including changes in manufacturing or changes to enhance device safety.

Device manufacturers are allowed to make changes to a device without submitting to the FDA the 30-day notice required for manufacturing changes or a premarket approval supplement if their quality system has been certified by an accredited person.

An accredited person who assesses a device manufacturer's quality system must submit a summary of their assessment and, as appropriate, a certification to the FDA within 30 days of the assessment. An assessment summary and certification is deemed accepted by the FDA 30 days after submission unless the FDA determines that additional information is needed to support certification, the assessment or certification is unwarranted, or an action other than acceptance of the certification is otherwise justified.

Periodic reports by device manufacturers must describe any changes made to a device without submission of the 30-day notice or the premarket approval supplement.

Certifications accepted by the FDA remain in effect for two years.

The FDA must report on this quality system assessment program no later than January 31, 2022. The program is terminated at the end of FY2022.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-06-02 00:00:00

Saving Lives, Saving Costs Act

Establishes a framework for health care liability lawsuits to undergo review by independent medical review panels if health care professionals (practicing physicians or their agents or employees) allege adherence to applicable clinical practice guidelines.

Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish clinical practice guidelines provided and maintained by national or state medical societies or medical specialty societies designated by HHS. Sets forth standards for the development of guidelines, including standards related to transparency, the composition of the panel, and the review of existing evidence. Prohibits holding a professional organization or a participant in guideline development liable for injury allegedly caused by adherence to a guideline to which they contributed.

Declares that this Act does not preempt: (1) any state or federal law that imposes greater procedural or substantive protections for health care providers and health care organizations from liability, loss, or damages than those provided under this Act; (2) any state or federal law that creates a cause of action; or (3) any defenses otherwise available.

Gives jurisdiction of health care liability actions against health care professionsals, providers, or organizations to district courts. Allows a defendant to remove any health care liability action brought in a state court to a district court.

Requires an independent medical review in health care liability actions that have been removed to a district court if the eligible professionals allege that they adhered to applicable clinical practice guidelines. Sets forth procedures for the use of the panel's findings at trial.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-09-11 00:00:00

Protecting Infants Born Alive Act

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to modify requirements regarding a state plan for medical assistance. Under current law, a state plan for medical assistance must provide that any individual eligible for medical assistance may obtain required services from any institution, agency, or person qualified to perform them. The bill specifies that a state may not be required to provide medical assistance for such services by any individual or entity whose services or actions are suspected by the state of causing the termination of a human fetus classified as an infant born alive. Furthermore, a provider of such an abortion may neither receive payment under the Medicaid program nor participate in any federal or state health care program.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Date: 2015-09-15 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

(Sec. 3) This bill amends the federal criminal code to require any health care practitioner who is present when a child is born alive following an abortion or attempted abortion to: (1) exercise the same degree of care as reasonably provided to any other child born alive at the same gestational age, and (2) ensure that such child is immediately admitted to a hospital. The term "born alive" means the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother, at any stage of development, who after such expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut.

Also, a health care practitioner or other employee who has knowledge of a failure to comply with these requirements must immediately report such failure to an appropriate law enforcement agency.

An individual who violates the provisions of this Act is subject to a criminal fine, up to five years in prison, or both.

An individual who commits an overt act that kills a child born alive is subject to criminal prosecution for murder.

The legislation bars the criminal prosecution of a mother of a child born alive for conspiracy to violate the provisions of this Act, for being an accessory after the fact, or for concealment of felony.

A woman who undergoes an abortion or attempted abortion may file a civil action for damages against an individual who violates this Act.
Topic: Health — Medical Liability
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-10-08 00:00:00

Ensuring Access to Quality Medicaid Providers Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (Children's Health Insurance Program [CHIP]) of the Social Security Act to prohibit federal payment under Medicaid for nonemergency services furnished by providers whose participation in Medicaid, Medicare, or CHIP has been terminated.

Under current law, a state must exclude from Medicaid participation any provider that has been terminated under any state's Medicaid program or under Medicare. The bill maintains those requirements and further requires a state to exclude from Medicaid participation any provider that has been terminated under CHIP. Furthermore, a state must exclude from CHIP participation any provider that has been terminated under Medicaid or Medicare.

The bill also revises a state's reporting requirements with respect to terminating a provider under a state plan. A state shall require each Medicaid or CHIP provider, whether the provider participates on a fee-for-service (FFS) basis or within the network of a managed care organization (MCO), to enroll with the state by providing specified identifying information. When notifying the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that a provider has been terminated under a state plan, the state must submit this information as well as information regarding the termination date and reason. HHS shall review such termination notifications and, if appropriate, include them in a database or similar system, as specified by the bill.

The bill prohibits federal payment under a state's Medicaid or CHIP program for services provided by an MCO unless: (1) the state has a system for notifying MCOs when a provider is terminated under Medicaid, Medicare, or CHIP; and (2) any contract between the state plan and an MCO provides that such providers be excluded from participation in the MCO provider network.

HHS shall report to Congress on this bill's implementation.

(Sec. 3) A state must publish and annually update a public directory of FFS providers participating under the state plan.