zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2013 - Sets forth requirements for the first update of the Strategic Plan Refresh for Fiscal Years 2012 through 2014 after the enactment of this Act.

Requires the Director of the Office of Rural Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to prepare the update in consultation with the Director of the Health Care Retention and Recruitment Office, the Director of the Office of Quality and Performance, and the Director of the Office of Care Coordination Services of the Department.

Requires the update to include: (1) goals and objectives for the provision of health care in rural areas, including for recruiting and retaining health care personnel, ensuring timeliness and improving quality in the delivery of health care services through contract and fee-basis providers, implementing and enhancing the use of telemedicine services, ensuring the full and effective use of mobile outpatient clinics, and coordinating and sharing of resources among federal agencies; (2) procedures for soliciting from each Veterans Health Administration facility that serves a rural area a statement of the facility's clinical capacity, the facility's procedures in the event of an emergency outside the scope of such capacity, and the facility's procedures and mechanisms for the provision and coordination of health care for women veterans; and (3) modification of funding allocation mechanisms to ensure that the Office of Rural Health distributes funds to VA components to best achieve goals and objectives in a timely manner.

Date: 2013-07-31
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Behavioral Health Information Technology Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to include as a health care provider behavioral and mental health professionals, substance abuse professionals, psychiatric hospitals, certain community mental health centers (including one operated by a county behavioral health agency), and residential or outpatient mental health or substance abuse treatment facilities.

Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), with respect to incentives for meaningful use of certified electronic health records (EHR) technology under the pay schedule for physician's services, to include as additional eligible professionals clinical psychologists providing qualified psychologist services and clinical social workers. Subjects any additional eligible professionals, including those under a MedicareAdvantage (MA) plan, to reductions in incentive payments after a certain date for failure to be a meaningful EHR user.

Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to treat as Medicaid providers the following additional Medicaid providers: (1) public and certain private hospitals that are principally psychiatric hospitals, (2) certain community mental health centers, and (3) certain residential or outpatient mental health or substance abuse treatment facilities.

Makes eligible professionals under the Medicaid program certain clinical psychologists providing qualified psychologist services and certain clinical social workers.

Date: 2013-09-18
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
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.

Maintains the FY2022 DSH allotment to states under Medicaid for FY2023, with an adjustment for inflation.

Date: 2013-09-26
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to: (1) submit to Congress a plan to introduce pay-for-performance mechanisms into contracts which compensate Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) contractors for the provision of veterans' health care services through community-based outpatient clinics (clinics), (2) commence plan implementation within 60 days after submission, and (3) report semiannually to Congress on the feasibility and advisability of utilizing such mechanisms in the provision of VA health care services by means in addition to such clinics.

Date: 2013-11-07
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Healthcare Privacy and Anti-Fraud Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue guidance (including concerning liability) to protect the privacy of individually identifiable information submitted to, or accessed by, health care exchange navigators.

Requires entities receiving grants under the navigator program to ensure that their employees undergo background checks, take an oath not to disclose individually identifiable information, and meet educational and licensure requirements comparable to those applicable to health insurance agents and brokers in the state.

Imposes criminal penalties for disclosure of individually identifiable information and misrepresentation as a navigator.

Directs the Secretary to annually make available a list of entities providing navigator services and a list of those determined to be ineligible or convicted of offenses described in this Act. Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt individuals from the penalty for not maintaining minimum essential coverage for any month if the failure resulted from advice of a navigator or a person purporting to provide such services.

Date: 2013-11-07
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Fair Competition for Hospitals Act of 2013 - Requires the wage index applying to a certain kind of subsection (d) hospital under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to be the highest wage index assigned to hospitals in the core-based statistical area in which the hospital is located (regardless of which state the hospital is located in) as a result of the requirement of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that the area wage index applicable to any hospital which is not located in a rural area be not less than the area wage index applicable to hospitals located in rural areas in the state in which the hospital is located.

(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.)

Limits the application of this Act to a subsection (d) hospital: (1) located in a core-based statistical area comprising counties from more than one state, but (2) not located in a core-based statistical area in which one or more hospitals are subject to a specified minimum wage index, and (3) not located in a core-based statistical area in which the highest wage index applies to hospitals covered by this Act under a state Medicare reimbursement system.

Date: 2013-12-10
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to continue to apply through calendar year 2014 the enforcement instruction on physician supervision requirements for outpatient therapeutic services in critical access and small rural hospitals, as extended in November 2012 for calendar year 2013 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (The instruction directs Medicare contractors not to evaluate or enforce such requirements until the policy on supervision of such services could be revisited.)

Date: 2014-01-16
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter into an enhanced-use lease for buildings 205 and 208 of the West Los Angeles Medical Center, California, for the provision of long-term therapeutic housing for homeless veterans who require assisted living or other similar forms of care. Exempts such buildings from a provision authorizing the Secretary to transfer property under an enhanced-use lease to the lessee.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) review such lease at least once during each two-year period in which it is in effect, including by assessing the leasing party and determining whether such lease should continue; and (2) submit a report.

Date: 2014-02-04
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Consumer Learning through Electronically-Accessible and Reasonable Cost Information Act of 2013 [sic] or CLEAR Cost Information Act of 2013 [sic] - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to require service providers, in order to be qualified to participate and receive Medicare payments under any agreement filed with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to report to the Secretary payment data on "subsection (d) 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.)

Requires a subsection (d) hospital to submit to the Secretary data on the actual amounts it has collected from uninsured and insured patients over the preceding two years for each of the 50 most common diagnosis-related groups and ambulatory payment classification groups for which payment is made in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

Requires each annual report submitted to Congress by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) to contain information on the percentage that charity care makes up of the total care furnished by hospitals and critical access hospitals.

Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require the Secretary of the Treasury to post data on trends in the levels of charity care provided by certain hospitals on a publicly accessible and searchable website. Amends SSA title XVIII to require hospitals and critical access hospitals to include a link to such data on their home Internet websites.

Date: 2014-02-06
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Preventing Regulatory Overreach To Enhance Care Technology Act of 2014 or the PROTECT Act of 2014 - Expresses the sense of Congress concerning:

 interagency coordination to foster health information technology and mobile health innovation, development of legislation to establish a risk-based regulatory framework for clinical software and health software, oversight by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of technical standards used by clinical software, and work by NIST on next steps regarding health information technology, such as collaborating with nongovernmental entities to develop certification processes and to promote best practice standards. Excepts clinical software and health software from regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and excludes the terms from the meaning of "device."

Defines "clinical software" as clinical decision support software or other software intended for human or animal use that: (1) captures, analyzes, changes, or presents patient or population clinical data or information and may recommend courses of clinical action, but does not directly change the structure or any function of the body; and (2) is intended to be marketed for use only by a health care provider in a health care setting.

 Defines "health software" as software: (1) that captures, analyzes, changes, or presents patient or population clinical data or information; (2) that supports administrative or operational aspects of health care and is not used in the direct delivery of patient care; or (3) whose primary purpose is to act as a platform for a secondary software, to run or act as a mechanism for connectivity, or to store data.

Date: 2014-02-10
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Veterans Health Care Access Received Closer to Home Act of 2014 - Expresses the sense of Congress in support of veteran-centric health care coordination between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and community providers, as well as cost-effective VA purchase of veterans' care from the private sector.

Amends the Veterans' Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008 to reauthorize a VA pilot program of contract care authority within specified Veterans Integrated Service Networks for the health care needs of veterans in highly rural areas who are enrolled in the VA annual patient enrollment system. Requires: (1) that medical appointments for veterans, under the pilot program, occur during the 30-day period beginning on the date that is 15 days after the appointment is requested, and (2) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that eligible veterans are informed of the program.

Date: 2014-03-06
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2014 - Amends the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to extend the rural community hospital demonstration program from five through 10 years.

Date: 2014-03-31
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Requires the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to submit to Congress within 180 days after enactment of this Act a report on wait times for veterans seeking medical appointments and treatment from the VA, which shall include: (1) information on wait times throughout the United States, and (2) a determination by the Inspector General as to whether such wait times have been prolonged by VA employees without a valid medical or administrative reason.

Prohibits the VA Secretary from closing any VA medical facility, or from using any VA funds to prepare any environment impact statement related to such closure, before such report is submitted, or after the report is submitted if the Inspector General determines that wait times have been prolonged by VA employees without a valid reason, unless the Secretary certifies that such closure will not:

 increase the wait times for veterans in the catchment area of such medical facility; decrease the quality of care provided to such veterans; impede the access of such veterans to specialized health care services or to VA residential rehabilitation treatment programs and other inpatient care; increase the distance required to be traveled by such veterans to receive care; or impede the access to medical care for such veterans that are members of Indian tribes. Terminates such prohibition when the Inspector General certifies that such wait times are not being prolonged by VA employees without a valid reason.

Date: 2014-05-12
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2014 - 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.

Date: 2014-05-15
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Transparency in Cost of Veterans Care Act of 2014 - Requires the estimate included in the prospectus accompanying a request to Congress by the President or the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) for funding for a major medical facility project or lease to identify the additional costs of providing hospital care or medical services resulting from the temporary displacement of clinical space required for the project, including the costs of: (1) contracting with a non-VA facility to furnish hospital care or medical services, (2) beneficiary travel, and (3) the lease or purchase of a temporary or mobile medical facility.

Date: 2014-06-04
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Hospital Readmissions Program Accuracy and Accountability Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, with respect to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in determining a hospital's excess readmission ratio for purposes of making payments for discharges starting in FY2016, to risk adjust readmissions to account for patient socioeconomic status.

Date: 2014-06-19
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 or the IMPACT Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) require post-acute care (PAC) providers to report standardized patient assessment data, data on quality measures, and data on resource use and other measures; (2) require the data to be interoperable to allow for its exchange among PAC and other providers to give them access to longitudinal information so as to facilitate coordinated care and improve Medicare beneficiary outcomes; and (3) modify PAC assessment instruments applicable to PAC providers for the submission of standardized patient assessment data on such providers and enable assessment data comparison across all such providers.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide confidential feedback reports to PAC providers on their performance with respect to required measures; and (2) arrange for public reporting of PAC provider performance on quality, resource use, and other measures.

Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPAC) to: (1) evaluate and recommend to Congress features of PAC payment systems that establish, or a unified PAC payment system that establishes, payment rates according to characteristics of individuals instead of according to the PAC setting where the Medicare beneficiary involved is treated; and (2) recommend to Congress a technical prototype for a PAC prospective payment system.

Directs the Secretary to reduce by 2% the update to the market basket percentage for skilled nursing facilities which do not report assessment and quality data.

Directs the Secretary to study: (1) the effect of individuals' socioeconomic status on quality, resource use, and other measures for individuals under the Medicare program; and (2) the impact on such measures of specified risk factors.

Date: 2014-06-26
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Value Based Insurance Design for Better Care Act of 2014 or the VBID for Better Care Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a three-year demonstration program to test the use of value-based insurance design methodologies under the eligible Medicare plans offered by Medicare Advantage organizations under part C (Medicare+Choice) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act.

Defines "value-based insurance design methodology" as one for identifying specific prescription medications, and clinical services reimbursable under Medicare, for which copayments, coinsurance, or both should be reduced or eliminated because of the high-value and effectiveness of these medications and services for specific chronic clinical conditions (as approved by the Secretary).

Directs the Secretary to expand the demonstration program to implement, on a permanent basis, those components beneficial to Medicare beneficiaries and the Medicare program, unless a required evaluation of the program states that it: (1) increases expenditures under Medicare with respect to participating beneficiaries, or (2) decreases the quality of health care services furnished to such beneficiaries.

Date: 2014-09-10
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Ensuring Equal Access to Treatments Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, with respect to the prospective payment system for hospital outpatient department (OPD) services, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create certain additional groups of covered OPD services that classify separately, from those that do not utilize such a drug, procedures that utilize a drug (other than contrast agents and diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals) that both has a cost above the drug packaging threshold and functions as a supply when used in a diagnostic test or procedure.

Date: 2014-12-04
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Critical Access Hospital Relief Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the 96-hour physician certification requirement for inpatient critical access hospital services under which a physician must certify that a patient may reasonably be expected to be discharged or transferred to a hospital within 96 hours after admission to the critical access hospital.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Rural Health Care Provider Relief Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, during a specified extension period, to extend the therapy supervision nonenforcement instruction (the enforcement instruction on supervision requirements for outpatient therapeutic services in critical access and small rural hospitals, as extended for calendar year 2013 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and through calendar year 2014 by Public Law 113-198).

Directs the Secretary to study the impact (including the economic impact and the impact upon hospital staffing needs, if any) on critical access hospitals and small rural hospitals of not extending the therapy supervision nonenforcement instruction.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Aurora VA Hospital Financing and Construction Reform Act of 2015

Authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out the Aurora medical facility project to replace the VA Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.

Requires VA to enter into an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers giving the Corps the authority to perform the project, design, contract, and construction management necessary to complete such project.

Date: 2015-01-28
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Access to Life-Saving Trauma Care for All Americans Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize grants for certain trauma centers and grants to states for trauma centers through FY2020. The categorization of certain trauma centers is revised.

(Sec. 3) The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is given the authority to administer these grants.

Date: 2015-02-02
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care Reauthorization Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize trauma care programs through FY2020.

(Sec. 3) Grants for pilot projects of innovative models of emergency care and trauma systems can be allocated up to half of the remaining funds for trauma care after allocations for improvement of emergency medical services in rural areas and administrative purposes.

State plans for emergency medical services are required to include the national standards and requirements of the American Burn Association for verified burn centers.

The Department of Health and Human Services must update the model plan for designation of trauma centers and for triage, transfer, and transportation policies, taking into account standards from the American Burn Association.

Date: 2015-02-02
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Rural Hospital Access Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to make permanent the Medicare-dependent, small rural subsection (d) hospital program and increased payments under the Medicare low-volume hospital program.

 (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.)

Date: 2015-02-02
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Extension Act of 2015

Amends the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to extend the period of the rural community hospital demonstration program from 5 to 10 years.

Date: 2015-02-03
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a two-year pilot program under which: (1) eligible veterans may elect to receive hospital care and services at non-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, and (2) the Secretary shall reimburse such facilities for the cost of such care and services.

Defines an "eligible veteran" as a veteran who: (1) is enrolled in the VA's patient enrollment system, and (2) resides in a geographic area selected by the Secretary. Directs the Secretary to select: (1) one geographic area within each Veterans Integrated Service Network, and (2) NJ-2 as the geographic area for participation in the pilot program for Veterans Integrated Service Network 4.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) issue a unique identification card to each eligible veteran who elects to receive hospital care and medical services at non-VA facilities under the pilot program, and (2) take steps to ensure that such veterans receive such care and services at such non-VA facilities.

Date: 2015-02-05
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Stark Administrative Simplification Act of 2015 

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prescribe a single civil monetary penalty as an alternative sanction to those already established for compensation arrangements between a physician (or an immediate family member) and a person or entity that is in violation of the limitation on certain physician referrals (Stark Law) solely due to technical noncompliance.

(The Stark law, or Stark Rule, prohibits physician referrals of certain health services for Medicare and Medicaid patients to a specified entity if the physician, or an immediate family member, has a financial relationship with that entity.)

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to accept the voluntary disclosure of a technically noncomplaint compensation arrangement by a person or entity in violation of the Stark Law under certain circumstances.

Date: 2015-02-05
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Medicare Payment Rate Disclosure Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services 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.

Date: 2015-02-05
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on March 16, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act or the NOTICE Act 

(Sec. 2) This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require a hospital or critical access hospital with an agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give each individual who receives observation services as an outpatient for more than 24 hours an adequate oral and written notification within 36 hours after beginning to receive them which:

 explains the individual's status as an outpatient and not as an inpatient and the reasons why; explains the implications of that status on services furnished (including those furnished as an inpatient), in particular the implications for cost-sharing requirements and subsequent coverage eligibility for services furnished by a skilled nursing facility; includes appropriate additional information; is written and formatted using plain language and made available in appropriate languages; and is signed by the individual or a person acting on the individual's behalf (representative) to acknowledge receipt of the notification, or if the individual or representative refuses to sign, the written notification is signed by the hospital staff who presented it.

Date: 2015-02-11
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Electronic Health Fairness Act of 2015 

(Sec. 2) Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to prohibit for a payment year after 2015 any patient encounter of an eligible professional occurring at an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) from being treated as such a patient encounter in determining whether an eligible professional qualifies as a meaningful electronic health record (EHR) user.

Terminates this prohibition three years after the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines, through notice and comment rulemaking, that certified EHR technology is applicable to the ASC setting.

Date: 2015-02-11
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Ensuring Equal Access to Treatments Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, with respect to the prospective payment system for hospital outpatient department (OPD) services, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create certain additional groups of covered OPD services that classify separately, from those that do not utilize such a drug, procedures that utilize a drug (other than contrast agents, diagnostic radiopharmaceutical, or anesthesia drugs) that both has a cost above the drug packaging threshold and functions as a supply when used in a diagnostic test or procedure.

Date: 2015-02-27
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Meeting the Inpatient Health Care Needs of Far South Texas Veterans Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA): (1) to 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, to modify the existing facility to meet this requirement.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Ask Veterans Act

Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to contract with an experienced non-government entity to conduct an annual survey, over a five-year period, to determine the experiences of veterans in obtaining hospital care and medical services at each VA medical facility.

Requires those surveys to include questions relating to:

 a veteran's ability to obtain hospital care and medical services at the facility in a timely manner, the time between the date the veteran requests an appointment and the date the appointment is scheduled, the frequency with which scheduled appointments are cancelled, and the quality of hospital care or medical services received. Directs the Secretary to make the results of the surveys publicly available on the VA's Internet website.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Establishing Beneficiary Equity in the Hospital Readmission Program Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) with respect to the hospital readmissions reduction program under the inpatient (hospital) prospective payment system (IPPS).

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, in determining a hospital's excess readmission ratio for purposes of making payments for discharges occurring during FY2016-FY2017, is required to make a risk adjustment to the ratio that takes into account both: (1) a hospital's proportion of inpatients who are full-benefit dual eligible individuals (eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid under SSAct title XIX), and (2) the socioeconomic status of patients served by the hospital.

The Secretary must base the risk adjustment under the readmission program for subsequent fiscal years on specified reports required by the Improving Medicare Post Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 as well as a report the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission shall submit on the appropriateness of using a threshold of 30 days for readmissions under the program. The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must then incorporate report recommendations in carrying out risk adjustments for discharges occurring in such fiscal years in order to ensure that the most vulnerable populations are not unfairly penalized by the program.

The Secretary shall consider the use of V or other International Classification of Diseases-related codes for potential exclusion of noncompliant patient cases when promulgating related regulations for FY2017.

The Secretary must: (1) assess whether to exclude from the calculation of excess readmissions any patients whose clinical conditions or diagnoses may require frequent hospitalizations; then (2) exclude, starting in FY2018, any relevant clinical conditions identified in the assessment recommendations when determining a hospital's publicly reported readmission rate and excess readmissions ratio.

The Secretary is directed to make a payment adjustment to subsection (d) hospitals necessary to ensure that the implementation of this Act does not result in any increase in aggregate expenditures under the IPPS.

(Generally, a subsection (d) hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payment under the IPPS when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)

Date: 2015-03-10
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require alignment of updates for ambulatory surgical center (ASC) services under a revised prospective payment system (PPS) with updates for hospital outpatient department (OPD) services.

Revises requirements for the reporting and applying of quality measure data by ASCs and hospital OPDs.

Revises requirements for the composition of the expert outside advisory panel the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to consult during the annual review of the clinical integrity of the groups and payment weights in the PPS for OPD services. Requires the panel to include suppliers subject to the PPS as well as at least one ASC representative.

Requires the Secretary, when excluding from a final rule updating ASC lists a procedure whose inclusion was requested during the public comment period, to cite in the final rule specific criteria based on which the procedure was excluded. Requires the Secretary also to identify the peer reviewed research or the evidence upon which the exclusion is based if certain of those criteria are cited for it. Prohibits the Secretary from using or citing as a criterion or a basis for an exclusion that the procedure can only be reported using a Current Procedural Terminology unlisted surgical procedure code.

Date: 2015-03-18
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Bundling and Coordinating Post-Acute Care Act of 2015 or the BACPAC Act of 2015

 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require a single bundled payment for post-acute care services under Medicare parts A (Hospital Insurance) and B (Supplementary Medical Insurance).

Defines "PAC physician" as the physician with primary responsibility for supervising delivery to an individual of a post-acute care (PAC) bundle of services between a qualifying discharge and the earlier of: (1) 90 days later, or (2) the date on which the individual is admitted to a hospital to receive services for a condition unrelated to the one for which he or she received the acute care inpatient hospital services.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to study the feasibility of integrating ("bundling") all payments under the Medicare program for post acute care services with payments for acute care inpatient hospital services in 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.)

Places a moratorium on the IPPS payment rate in certain cases.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a new Transitional Care Management (TCM) code, with respect to geographic adjustments to the physicians' fee schedule, to pay for care management by a PAC physician; or (2) revise and expand the use of existing TCM codes 99495 and 99494.

Date: 2015-03-19
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Repeal of the Obamacare Bay State Boondoogle Act

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, in the case of discharges occurring on or after April 1, 2015, 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 April 1, 2015, 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 April 1, 2015.

Date: 2015-03-19
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require that any records or documentation of an orthotist or prosthetist who furnished an orthotic, prosthetic, or prosthetic device to an individual shall be considered part of the individual's medical record in determining whether the item is reasonable and necessary.

Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) shall determine that payment may not be made to a supplier of durable medical equipment (DME) or of orthotics and prosthetics for which a claim is made because the supplier does not meet requirements for licensing or accreditation by a National Board.

Recovery audit contractors (RACs) shall consider an overpayment that must be recouped any payment for DME, orthotics, or prosthetics that should not have been made because the supplier failed to meet licensing or accreditation criteria.

RACs are prohibited from reviewing payments for certain DME, orthotics, or prosthetics to which prior Medicare authorization applies.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services must report annually to Congress certain information on determinations by MACs that payment cannot be made, and by RACs that payment should not have been made, under Medicare for items and services.

Payment is prohibited under part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) of Medicare for orthotics and prosthetics furnished by a supplier without a supplier number. To obtain such a number a supplier must meet specified criteria.

The Secretary must: (1) review annually the coverage and utilization of orthotics and prosthetics to determine whether they should be subjected to coverage and utilization review criteria, and if appropriate (2) develop and apply such criteria.

Patients are not liable for payment of furnished orthotics and prosthetics which are not reasonable and necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of illness or injury or to improve the functioning of a malformed body member.

Competitive acquisition programs shall not apply to off-the-shelf items and services furnished by certain orthotists or prosthetists who are either licensed or, in a state without licensing requirements, meet specified training, education, certification, or credentialing criteria.

Recoupment of payments to a qualifying provider or supplier may not be made before completion of an administrative law judge appeals process.

Payment under Medicare is denied to suppliers and providers unless they meet certain licensing or other qualifications.

Date: 2015-03-23
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2015

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.

Date: 2015-03-24
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2015

Amends the Public Health Service Act to require hospitals to implement and submit to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a staffing plan that complies with specified minimum nurse-to-patient ratios by unit. Requires HHS to develop a transparent method for establishing nurse staffing requirements above minimum ratios.

Directs HHS 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.

Allows a nurse to object to, or refuse to participate in, any assignment if it would violate minimum ratios or if the nurse is not prepared by education or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of a patient or jeopardizing the nurse's license. 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 individual for good faith complaints relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or of any related facilities.

Adds stipends to the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program. Expands the nurse retention grant program to authorize programs to implement nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Lymphedema Treatment Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to cover certain lymphedema compression treatment items as durable medical equipment under Medicare. (Lymphedema is a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling that is caused when the lymphatic system is damaged or blocked.)

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
Physician Availability Act of 2015

Requires each covered hospital to have a qualified physician available in the hospital at all times 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 Department of Health and Human Services 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.

Date: 2015-03-25
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Health
VA Construction, Accountability, and Reform Act

This bill authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out the major medical facility project to replace the VA Medical Center in Denver, Colorado (Aurora Project).

 The Secretary may not pay any bonus during FY2015-FY2016. If the Aurora Project is not completed by September 30, 2016, the Secretary may not pay any bonus until the date on which the Secretary certifies to Congress that such Project is fully operational. The aggregate amount of subsequent fiscal year bonuses is capped through FY2024.

 The Secretary shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary of the Army for the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out the design, contract, construction management, and other similar services for the Aurora Project.

The bill prohibits the VA Secretary from carrying out a major medical facility project and requires the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, to carry out all major medical facility projects for the VA.

 The Government Accountability Office shall review the Secretary's management of the Aurora Project.

 The Secretary must notify Congress at least 120 days (currently, at least 30 days) before obligating funds for major medical facility projects that exceed authorized amounts.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Health (Medical Facilities)
Subject: Armed forces and national security