lcalvobartolome/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2012-06-25 00:00:00

Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility, and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Act of 2012 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require personnel who perform or plan the technical component of either medical imaging examinations or radiation therapy procedures for medical purposes to possess, effective 42 months after enactment of this Act: (1) certification in each medical imaging or radiation therapy modality and service they plan or perform from a certification organization designated under this Act; and (2) state licensure or certification where such services and modalities are within the scope of practice as defined by the state for such profession, if the state requires licensure, certification, or registration. Exempts physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants from the requirements of this Act. Gives individuals who are enrolled in specified training or certification programs when the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) publishes the list of approved certification organizations an additional six months from the date of completion of the training program to become fully qualified under this Act. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a program for designating certification organizations after consideration of specified criteria; (2) provide a process for individuals whose training or experience is determined to be equal to, or in excess of, that of a graduate of an accredited educational program in that specialty to demonstrate that their experience meets the educational standards for qualified personnel in their imaging modality or radiation therapy procedures; and (3) publish a list of designated certification organizations. Authorizes the Secretary to waive standards under this Act or to develop alternative standards for rural or health professional shortage areas as appropriate. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow Medicare payment for medical imaging and radiation therapy services furnished on or after 42 months after enactment of this Act, only if the examination or procedure is planned or performed by an individual who meets this Act's requirements.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2012-08-02 00:00:00

Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to transport individuals to and from facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in connection with vocational rehabilitation, counseling, examination, treatment, or care.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2012-09-20 00:00:00

Improving Dementia Care Treatment for Older Adults Act of 2012 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to establish and implement prescriber education programs to promote high quality evidence-based treatment through the development and dissemination of objective, educational, and informational materials to physicians and other prescribing practitioners, including such a program developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Amends SSA titles XVIII and XIX (Medicaid) with respect to the review and reporting of antipsychotics prescribed to skilled nursing facility (SNF) and nursing facility residents with dementia. Directs the Secretary to develop a standardized protocol for such facilities to obtain informed consent from an older adult with dementia before prescribing an antipsychotic to him or her for a use not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Directs the Comptroller General to study state laws and regulations concerning informed consent with respect to the administration of a psychoactive medication with regard to the effectiveness of such laws and practices in changing the frequency of prescribing of such medications to older adults with dementia. Directs the Secretary to include a measure of the utilization of antipsychotics for each such facility for inclusion on the Nursing Home Compare Website as part of the quality measures or health inspection measures, or both such measures, under the Five-Star Quality Rating System. Directs the Comptroller General to study the impact of the standardized protocol for obtaining informed consent under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Directs the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies to study appropriate prescribing of antipsychotics for hospital inpatients and whether documentation of antipsychotic use in patients with dementia is provided during transitions of care from hospitals to other care settings.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-01-14 00:00:00

Veterans Timely Access to Health Care Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the standard for access to care for a veteran seeking hospital care and medical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is 30 days from the date the veteran contacts the VA.

Directs the Secretary to periodically review the performance of VA medical facilities in meeting such standard.

Requires quarterly reports from the Secretary to the congressional veterans' committees on the VA's experience with respect to appointment waiting times.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-01-14 00:00:00

Physician Availability Act of 2013 - Requires each covered hospital to have a qualified physician available in the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to attend to the needs of the hospital's inpatients. Defines a "covered hospital" to: (1) include hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid or receiving federal funds, and (2) exclude hospitals in a federal facility or hospitals that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) determines have fewer than 100 licensed beds.

 Considers a physician to be available if: (1) the physician is physically present in the hospital; (2) the physician's primary responsibility is to be in attendance to serve the needs of the hospital's inpatients without delay; and (3) the physician is not physically present in, assigned to, serving in, or expected to cover the hospital's emergency room or emergency department.

Sets forth penalties for violations.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-02-04 00:00:00

Safe Food for Seniors Act of 2013 - Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require the full-time director of food services at a Medicare skilled nursing facility or a Medicaid nursing facility, if not a qualified dietitian, to be a Certified Dietary Manager meeting the requirements of the Certifying Board for Dietary Managers or have equivalent military or academic qualifications.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-02-06 00:00:00

Meeting the Inpatient Health Care Needs of Far South Texas Veterans Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) ensure that the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service VA inpatient health care facility; and (2) if needed, modify the existing facility to meet this requirement.

Requires the Secretary to report on specific actions to be taken to satisfy such requirement.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-02-26 00:00:00

Veterans' Efficiencies Through Savings Act of 2013 or VETS Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the provision of medical care by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for: (1) any 75 square mile area where three or more VA outpatient clinics are located, and (2) any 100 square mile area where two or more VA hospitals are located.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-03-06 00:00:00

Rural Health Clinic Fairness Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend Medicare: (1) electronic health record (EHR) incentives to eligible professionals practicing in rural health clinics, and (2) electronic prescribing (eRx) and quality reporting incentives to such clinics.

Revises requirements for incentive payments to such professionals who are meaningful EHR users or who submit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) satisfactory quality data reports. Directs the Secretary to reduce the applicable incentive payments that would otherwise be determined by a budget-neutral amount calculated according to a specified formula to ensure that estimated aggregate payments are not increased as a result of this Act.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-03-14 00:00:00

Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to deem an individual receiving outpatient observation services in a hospital to be an inpatient with respect to satisfying the three-day inpatient hospital requirement in order to entitle the individual to Medicare coverage of any post-hospital extended care services in a skilled nursing facility (SNF).
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

Health Care Price Transparency Promotion Act of 2013 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require state Medicaid plans to provide that the state will establish and maintain laws to require disclosure of information on hospital charges, to make such information available to the public, and to provide individuals with information about estimated out-of-pocket costs for health care services.

Directs the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to research and report to Congress on: (1) the types of information on the charges and out-of-pocket costs for health care services that individuals find useful in making decisions about where, when, and from whom to receive care; (2) how such types of information vary by whether they have health benefits coverage, and what kinds; and (3) ways in which such information may be available on a timely basis and in easy-to-understand form to individuals facing such decisions.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

Electronic Health Records Improvement Act - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to exempt certain eligible physicians in solo practice and physicians near early retirement age from the application of the Medicare payment adjustment for not demonstrating electronic health record (EHR) meaningful use for certain payment years.

Establishes a special rebate for eligible professionals who receive a negative adjustment to their payments for failure to establish an EHR process but subsequently do establish a process meeting the criteria for establishing meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

Creates specified additional exceptions to the application of the Medicare negative payment adjustment for certain Medicaid providers participating in the Medicaid EHR incentive program and hospital-based eligible professionals not demonstrating EHR meaningful use.

Adds as a criterion for meaningful EHR user that an eligible professional satisfactorily uses a qualified national specialty registry system that measures quality improvement or improves patient safety.

Directs the Secretary to specify criteria for determining: (1) if a national specialty registry system is qualified under this Act, and (2) if an eligible professional has demonstrated satisfactory use of such a system for a period.

Extends: (1) Medicare EHR incentives (increased payments and adjustments) to eligible professionals practicing in rural health clinics, and (2) Medicare Electronic Prescribing (ERx) and quality reporting incentives to rural health clinics.

Disqualifies claims for items or services furnished by an eligible professional at an ambulatory surgical center during performance years for the 2015, 2016, or 2017 payment determinations from inclusion in data used to determine if the eligible professional is a meaningful EHR user.

Exempts certain eligible professionals from certain EHR meaningful use requirements for purposes of the Medicare payment adjustment.

Creates a process for eligible professionals to appeal a determination that they did not qualify as a meaningful EHR user.

Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to make certain requirements of this Act inapplicable to eligible professional Medicaid provider incentives to encourage the adoption and use of certified EHR technology.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

Puerto Rico Hospital HITECH Amendments Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to apply Medicare HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act) payments to subsection (d) hospitals in Puerto Rico to allow them to qualify for incentives for adoption and meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) Technology.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

Urban Medicare-Dependent Hospitals Preservation Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, with respect to cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2013, and before October 1, 2016, to revise the criteria and payment formula for "subsection (d) hospitals" which are urban Medicare-dependent hospitals.

(Generally a subsection (d) hospital is an acute care hospital particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-04-11 00:00:00

Medicare Payment Rate Disclosure Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make publicly available on the official Medicare Internet site during a specified initial period: (1) Medicare payment rates for frequently reimbursed hospital inpatient and outpatient procedures and services, as well as for physicians' services; and (2) the period for which payment rates are applicable. Requires posting also after the initial period of an expanded selection of such items.

Directs the Secretary to select at least 30 procedures and services for the basic posting and at least 100 procedures and services for the expanded posting.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-04-11 00:00:00

Veterans' Privacy Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to prescribe regulations to ensure that any visual recording made of a patient during the course of furnishing care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is carried out only with the full and informed consent of that patient or, in appropriate cases, a representative thereof.

Allows the Secretary to waive such requirement if the recording is made: (1) upon a determination by a physician or psychologist that the recording is medically necessary, (2) pursuant to a warrant or order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (3) in a public setting where a person would not have a reasonable expectation to privacy (such as a waiting room or hallway) and the recording is for general security purposes not particularized to the patient.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-04-26 00:00:00

Rural Hospital Access Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend through FY2014: (1) the Medicare-dependent hospital program, and (2) increased payments under the Medicare low-volume hospital program.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-04-26 00:00:00

Infectious Disease Reporting Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report each case of reportable infectious disease (a disease that a state requires to be reported) that occurs at a medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the appropriate state entity, as well as to the accrediting organization of such facility.

Requires the Secretary, upon a failure to report, to pay to a state the same penalty that a non-federal facility of such state would pay for a failure to report. Allows a state to file a civil action against the VA for the recovery of such amount.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-04-30 00:00:00

Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require each Medicare participating hospital to implement a hospital-wide staffing plan for nursing services furnished in the hospital.

Requires the plan to require that an appropriate number of registered nurses provide direct patient care in each unit and on each shift of the hospital to ensure staffing levels that: (1) address the unique characteristics of the patients and hospital units; and (2) result in the delivery of safe, quality patient care consistent with specified requirements.

Requires each participating hospital to establish a hospital nurse staffing committee which shall implement such plan.

Specifies civil monetary and other penalties for violation of the requirements of this Act.

Sets forth whistleblower protections against discrimination and retaliation involving patients or employees of the hospital for their grievances, complaints, or involvement in investigations relating to such plan.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-05-09 00:00:00

Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require hospitals to implement a staffing plan that includes a minimum direct care registered nurse-to-patient ratio by unit, adjustments above the minimum ratio under appropriate circumstances, and compliance with minimum licensed practical nurse staffing requirements. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a national acuity tool to establish nurse staffing requirements above minimum ratios.

Directs the Secretary to adjust Medicare payments to hospitals to cover additional costs incurred in providing services to Medicare beneficiaries that are attributable to compliance with such ratios.

Authorizes a nurse to object to, or refuse to participate in, any activity, policy, practice, assignment or task if in good faith it would violate minimum ratios under this Act or if the nurse is not prepared by education, training, or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of any patient or jeopardizing the license of the nurse. Prohibits a hospital from: (1) taking specified actions against a nurse based on the nurse's refusal to accept an assignment for such a reason; or (2) discriminating against any patient, employee, or any other individual for good faith complaints or grievances relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or of any affiliated or related facilities. Prohibits actions by hospitals to restrain such rights. Sets forth enforcement provisions.

Applies provisions of this Act through federal health programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health benefits programs.

Includes stipends in the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program. Expands the nurse retention grant program to authorize programs to implement nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-05-09 00:00:00

DSH Reduction Relief Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to delay from FY2014 to FY2016 commencement of the period during which the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) is required to pay to any "subsection (d) hospital": (1) 25% of the amount of the disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payment that would otherwise be made to it for the fiscal year, plus (2) an additional payment amount according to a specified formula.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)

Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to delay from the beginning of FY2014 until the beginning of FY2016 (and so eliminate for FY2014 and FY2015) aggregate reductions in DSH allotments for all states.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-05-16 00:00:00

Expanding Patients' Access to Quality Care Act of 2013 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to: (1) the limitation on certain physician referrals to hospitals in which the physician or an immediate family member has an ownership or investment interest exceeding a specified amount; and (2) the rural provider and hospital exception to the physician ownership or investment prohibition.

Extends the rural provider and hospital exception to hospitals that were under construction or development as of December 30, 2010, and hospitals in financial distress.

Defines "financial distress" for a cost reporting period as one in which a hospital has had an overall negative combined Medicare inpatient prospective payment system and outpatient prospective payment system operating margin for the most recent three consecutive cost reporting periods for which data are available.

Eliminates the process for applying for such an exception for expansions of hospital facility capacity. Limits increases in facility capacity to those hospitals that have had a previous increase.
Topic: Health — Medical Facilities
Subject: Health
Date: 2013-05-20 00:00:00

Revises requirements for the non-rural area wage index floor in the formula for the national adjusted diagnosis-related group (DRG) prospective payment rate used in calculating payments under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act for each inpatient hospital discharge in a fiscal year involving inpatient hospital services of a subsection (d) hospital.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in the case of discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2013, to apply budget neutrality, under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and related regulations, on a state-specific rather than national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor, including a minimum wage index, for each non-rural area, using a specified methodology as if it had been fully implemented for FY2011 using a 100% state-specific adjustment to the area wage index.

Declares that nothing in this Act shall be construed as preventing the Secretary, for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2014, from modifying related regulations in carrying out budget neutrality requirements.

Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to end the application of budget neutrality on a national basis in the calculation of the Medicare hospital wage index floor as of October 1, 2013.