jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-03-16 00:00:00

Providers Consolidation and Medicare Payments Examined through Evaluation Act of 2015 or the Providers COMPETE Act of 2015

This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as part of any annual notice and comment rulemaking process to implement changes to payment systems under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (including those for inpatient and outpatient hospital services, physicians' services, and services furnished by other providers and suppliers), to seek public comment on and evaluate the extent to which, and how, such a change is projected to affect provider consolidation.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-03-19 00:00:00

SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2015

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to: (1) remove sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology from the determination of annual conversion factors in the formula for payment for physicians' services, and (2) revise the update in rates for 2015 and subsequent years.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Merit-based Incentive Payment (MIP) system under which eligible professionals (including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and certified registered nurse anesthetists) shall receive annual payment increases or decreases based on their performance.

Requires specified incentive payments to eligible participants in an alternative payment model.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) draft a plan for development of quality measures to assess professionals, including non-patient-facing professionals; and (2) make payments for chronic care management services.

Expands the kinds of uses of Medicare data available to qualified entities. Directs the Secretary to provide Medicare data to qualified clinical data registries to facilitate quality improvement or patient safety.

Declares it a national objective to achieve widespread exchange of health information through interoperable certified electronic health records technology nationwide by December 31, 2018.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-03-19 00:00:00

Medicaid Parity Act of 2015

 Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to extend through 2019: (1) Medicaid payment parity with Medicare for primary care services furnished under the Medicaid program, and (2) the increased (to 100%) federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP, or federal matching rate) for additional payments for primary care services.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-04-16 00:00:00

Veterans' Credit Protection Act

 Directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) conduct outreach to inform veterans of how to resolve credit issues caused by a delayed payment of a claim for emergency hospital care, medical services, or other emergency health care furnished through a non-VA provider; and (2) establish a toll-free telephone number for veterans to report such issues to the Chief Business Office of the VA.

Requires the VA to report annually on the effectiveness of such Office in providing timely payment of proper invoices for emergency hospital care, medical services, or other emergency health care furnished through non-VA providers by the required payment date during both the preceding five-year period and the preceding one-year period. Requires the report, for any part of the period covered by such a report that occurred before October 1, 2014, to evaluate the provision of such payments by the Veterans Integrated Service Networks.

 Requires such report to include:

 the number of veterans who contacted the VA regarding delayed payments that could negatively affect their credit; the total amount of interest penalties paid by the VA by reason of delayed payments; the number of proper invoices submitted, the amount owed for and the payment status of such invoices, and the periods that elapsed before such invoices were paid; any comments regarding delayed payments made by medical providers; and a description of the best practices to provide timely payment of a proper invoice, including a plan to improve such timely payments. Directs: (1) the Office to submit to Congress quarterly reports on the number of pending claims for reimbursement for emergency hospital care, medical services, and other emergency health care furnished through non-VA providers; and (2) the Comptroller General to conduct a study that evaluates the effectiveness of the Office in providing timely payment of a proper invoice for such care by the required payment date.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015

This bill prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from implementing, administering, or enforcing regulations that would replace ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases) with ICD-10 as a code set for financial and administrative transactions involving the electronic exchange of health information. ICD is a system of diagnostic codes for classifying diseases.

The Government Accountability Office must recommend steps to mitigate the disruption to health care providers that would result from replacement of ICD-9.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide payment under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) on a reasonable cost basis for anesthesia services furnished by a physician who is an anesthesiologist in certain rural hospitals in the same manner as payment is made for anesthesia services furnished by a certified registered nurse anesthetist in such hospitals.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-05-01 00:00:00

Disabled Veterans' Access to Medical Exams Improvement Act

Amends the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 to extend until December 31, 2017, the authority of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide for persons other than VA employees (i.e., contract physicians) to conduct medical disability examinations of applicants for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Permits licensed, VA-contracted physicians to conduct such examinations at any location in any state, the District of Columbia, or a Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States, so long as the examination is authorized under the contract and the physician is not barred from conducting such an examination in the location in which it occurs.

Amends the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 1996 to provide similar authorities with respect to permissible examination locations to licensed physicians under the pilot program authorizing the VA to use contract physicians to perform medical disability examinations of applicants for benefits under laws carried out through the Under Secretary for Benefits. Expands from 10 to 15 the maximum number of VA regional offices through which the Secretary is authorized to carry out such pilot program.

Directs the Secretary to conduct an annual data analysis (including an analysis of backlogged claims, pending workloads, and the timeliness of completed cases) to determine the regional offices requiring support.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-12 00:00:00

Increasing Clarity for Doctors by Transitioning Effectively Now Act or the ICD-TEN Act

This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement, administer, and enforce regulations that provide for the replacement of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) ICD-9 with ICD-10 as a standard for code sets.

HHS shall conduct, and make available to all participating service providers and suppliers, a comprehensive, end-to-end testing process to assess whether the Medicare fee-for-service claims processing system based on the ICD-10 standard is fully functioning.

HHS must subsequently certify to Congress whether or not the Medicare fee-for-service claims processing system based on the ICD-10 standard is fully functioning, including additional steps a not-fully-functioning system will take to achieve certification as well as the anticipated time frame for achieving it.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-12 00:00:00

Ensuring Access to Primary Care for Women & Children Act

Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to require that the primary care services furnished in the two years after enactment of this Act by a physician with a primary specialty designation of family medicine, general internal medicine, or pediatric medicine be paid at a rate that is not less than 100% of the payment rate that applies under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance), but only if the physician self-attests as being Board certified in those areas.

Extends this 100% of Medicare payment floor, subject to certain conditions, to the following providers: (1) physicians with a primary specialty designation of obstetrics and gynecology, and self-attesting they are Board certified; (2) advanced practice clinicians; (3) rural health clinics, federally-qualified health centers, or other specified health clinics; and (4) nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or certified nurse-midwives.

Excludes from coverage of primary care services any such services provided in an emergency department of a hospital.

Prescribes additional requirements for any contract between a state and a Medicaid managed care organization.

Directs the Government Accountability Office to examine the use of alternative payment models in state Medicaid programs and identify opportunities for disseminating successful payment models among them.

Amends SSAct title XI to: (1) extend funding for development of adult health quality measures; and (2) direct the Administrator for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services and the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop such measures specific to adult individuals with disabilities and include them in the Medicaid Quality Measurement Program.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-05-21 00:00:00

Prioritizing American Road and Jobs Act of 2015

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to eliminate enhanced federal funding after 2016 for individuals who are newly eligible for Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Under current law, a state is entitled to an increased federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) to cover such individuals; this enhanced FMAP is equivalent to 100% through 2016, 95% in 2017, 94% in 2018, 93% in 2019, and 90% thereafter. The bill eliminates these enhanced funding levels so that, beginning in 2017, federal funding for expenses related to newly eligible individuals instead reverts to a state's regular FMAP (which, under current law, may range from 50% to 83%).

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must estimate, for each calendar quarter beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the net quarterly reductions in federal expenditures resulting from this Act and adjust for a calendar quarter any initial estimate determined inaccurate. The adjusted estimate shall apply so as to adjust the amount appropriated to the Highway Trust Fund for the calendar quarter, subject to a specified limitation.

The amount equivalent to the HHS estimate reduction in federal Medicaid expenditures for a calendar quarter, but no more than a total of $15 billion in any year, is appropriated and transferred to the Highway Trust Fund from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated for that quarter.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-06-04 00:00:00

Protecting Patients and Physicians Against Coding Act of 2015 

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in carrying out regulations providing for the replacement of ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases-9) with ICD-10 as a standard code set, shall provide for a two-year grace period during which physicians and other health care providers submitting claims and other documents using ICD-10 are not penalized for errors, mistakes, and malfunctions relating to the transition to such code set. HHS shall also give these practitioners assistance during the grace period.

The Government Accountability Office shall study this transition for Congress.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-10 00:00:00

This bill requires that health care claims submitted with ICD-9 codes (the code set currently used in health care transactions to identify diagnoses and procedures) continue to be paid during the transition from the ICD-9 code set to the ICD-10 code set.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-16 00:00:00

Medical Practice Freedom Act of 2015

This bill prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services or any state from requiring a health care provider, as a condition of the provider's licensure, to participate in a health plan or comply with requirements for meaningful use of electronic health records.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-07-16 00:00:00

Construction Reform Act of 2016

(Sec. 2) This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use industry standards, standard designs, and best practices in carrying out medical facility construction.

A super construction project is one for the construction, alteration, or acquisition of a medical facility involving a total expenditure of more than $100 million (but does not include an acquisition by exchange).

 The VA shall provide, on a non-reimbursable basis, a non-VA federal entity with: (1) design, planning, and construction assistance; (2) project documents; and (3) other assistance upon request.

With respect to a proposed change to a contract entered into by a non-VA federal entity with which the VA has entered into an agreement that is estimated at a value of less than $250,000, the entity shall issue a final decision regarding such change within 30 days.

 With respect to a proposed contract change estimated at a value of $250,000 or more:

 the VA may make recommendations to the entity; the VA may issue the final decision regarding the change within 30 days after the entity proposes it; and if the VA does not issue a final decision within 60 days after the entity proposes the contract change, the entity shall issue a final decision regarding the change no later than 90 days after it proposes the change. The VA shall ensure that each VA employee with responsibilities relating to the construction or alteration of medical facilities undergoes ongoing professional training and development.

 The VA is prohibited from:

 obligating or expending funds for advance planning or design for any super construction project until 60 days after congressional notification, obligating funds for a major medical facility project or a super construction project by more than 10% of the amount approved by law unless certain congressional committees approve the obligation, or using bid savings amounts or funds for other than their original purpose before 30 days after notifying those committees unless each committee approves the obligation. The VA shall enter into a contract with an appropriate non-department federal entity to conduct an external forensic audit of: (1) the medical center construction project in Aurora, Colorado; and (2) the expenditures relating to any major medical facility or super construction project when such expenditures exceed the amount approved by law by more than 25%.

The VA must complete a 10-year master plan for: (1) each existing VA medical facility by December 31, 2016, and (2) each new VA medical facility by not later than the earlier of the date on which activation is completed or the date of the facility's formal dedication.

(Sec. 3) There is established in the Office of Inspector General an Assistant Inspector General for Construction who shall be responsible for conducting, supervising, and coordinating audits, evaluations, and investigations of the planning, design, contracting, and construction of VA facilities and infrastructure, including major and minor construction projects and leases.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-07-28 00:00:00

VA Medical Center Recovery Act

(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to publish in the Federal Register and on a publicly available VA Internet website a compilation of key health metrics for each VA medical center.

The VA shall: (1) determine on a semiannual basis whether each medical center is satisfactory or underperforming; and (2) upon a determination of underperformance, send a rapid deployment team to the center to ensure that it achieves satisfactory performance as quickly as practicable.

A rapid deployment team shall:

 identify the areas of the medical center that require improvement and whether the center follows directives and best practices; establish a performance remediation plan; review the status of any disciplinary actions taken at the center, any recommendations made by the VA Inspector General, and any Government Accountability Office findings; and provide appropriate training to the director and staff. The Inspector General of the VA shall prioritize investigations regarding underperforming medical centers.

The Office of Accountability Review shall prioritize investigations of whistleblower retaliation regarding underperforming medical centers.

(Sec. 3) The VA shall seek to enter into partnerships with recognized schools of nursing to provide undergraduate nursing students enrolled in such schools with standardized training with respect to:

 the culture of the military and veterans; post-traumatic stress disorder; traumatic brain injury; amputation and assistive devices; environmental, chemical, and toxic exposure; substance use disorders; military sexual trauma; suicide; homelessness; serious illness at the end of life; and federal benefits, services, and resources for veterans.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

Medicare Post-Acute Care Value-Based Purchasing Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) modify market basket percentages for post-acute care (PAC) providers, and (2) establish a PAC value-based purchasing program under which PAC providers receive value-based incentive payments. PAC providers are skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, home health agencies, and long-term care hospitals.

A market basket is an index that reflects inflation and is used to update payments and cost limits. Under current law, market basket percentage increases for PAC providers are generally based on the application of a formula based on costs from the preceding fiscal year, but for FY2018 these increases are fixed at 1%. The bill repeals these fixed increases, leaving FY2018 increases to instead be determined according to the existing formula.

With respect to the PAC value-based purchasing program, the bill: (1) requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) to establish performance standards and scores by which to rank PAC providers; (2) specifies how CMS must calculate value-based incentive payments for each type of PAC provider in accordance with such ranking; (3) requires CMS to make specified annual adjustments to how incentive payments are calculated; and (4) establishes limits on administrative and judicial review.

Under current law, a value-based purchasing program for skilled nursing facilities has been established to begin in FY2019. The bill maintains this program but specifies that it must terminate in FY2025.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-07-29 00:00:00

VA Vendor Verification Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish uniform credentialing standards for medical vendors based on the standards prescribed in the "Joint Recommendation for Healthcare Industry Representative (HCIR) Credentialing Best Practices" by the Coalition for Best Practices in HCIR Requirements.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-09-11 00:00:00

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

Women's Public Health and Safety Act

 

(Sec. 2) 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 services furnished by any individual or entity based on the individual's or entity's involvement in abortions.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-09-24 00:00:00

Medicaid Qualified Providers Clarification 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 determine whether a provider is qualified to perform such services. To do so, a state may establish qualification criteria, which may include criteria designed to evaluate: (1) the provider's ability to perform the needed medical services in a professionally competent, safe, and legal manner; and (2) any other qualification deemed necessary by the state.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2015-11-03 00:00:00

Enhanced Veteran Healthcare Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to seek to enter into covered agreements and contracts for the mutually beneficial coordination, use, or exchange of covered VA health-care resources with eligible academic affiliates in order to improve access to, and quality of, VA hospital care and medical services.
Topic: Health — Insurance Providers
Subject: Health
Date: 2015-11-17 00:00:00

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to revise the priorities the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uses in assigning National Health Service Corps (NHSC) members to health professional shortage areas and awarding contracts under the NHSC Loan Repayment Program. Specifically, HHS must prioritize: (1) assignment of members to areas with a high number of veterans with ailments resulting from traumatic brain injuries, and (2) awarding contracts to health professionals receiving training or trained in addressing post-traumatic stress disorder.