VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and implement a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. Requires the Secretary, at least semiannually, to publish reports on VA hospital quality, including assessments of effectiveness, safety, timeliness, and efficiency.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 692 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 692
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality
Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Veterans
Affairs hospitals.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 27, 2007
Mr. Obama introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality
Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Veterans
Affairs hospitals.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act
of 2007''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to establish the Hospital Quality Report
Card Initiative under title 38, United States Code, to ensure that
quality measures data for hospitals administered by the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs are readily available and accessible in order to--
(1) inform patients and consumers about health care quality
in such hospitals;
(2) assist Veterans Affairs health care providers in
identifying opportunities for quality improvement and cost
containment; and
(3) enhance the understanding of policy makers and public
officials of health care issues, raise public awareness of
hospital quality issues, and to help constituents of such
policy makers and officials identify quality health care
options.
SEC. 3. VA HOSPITAL QUALITY REPORT CARD INITIATIVE.
(a) In General.--Subchapter III of chapter 17 of title 38, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1730A. Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative
``(a) Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of
the VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007, the Secretary shall
establish and implement a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative (in
this section referred to as the `Initiative') to report on health care
quality in VA hospitals.
``(b) For purposes of this section, the term `VA hospital' means a
hospital administered by the Secretary.
``(c)(1)(A) Not less than 2 times each year, the Secretary shall
publish reports on VA hospital quality. Such reports shall include
quality measures data that allow for an assessment of health care--
``(i) effectiveness;
``(ii) safety;
``(iii) timeliness;
``(iv) efficiency;
``(v) patient-centeredness; and
``(vi) equity.
``(B) In collecting and reporting data as provided for under
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall include VA hospital information,
as possible, relating to--
``(i) staffing levels of nurses and other health
professionals, as appropriate;
``(ii) rates of nosocomial infections;
``(iii) the volume of various procedures performed;
``(iv) hospital sanctions and other violations;
``(v) the quality of care for various patient populations,
including female, geriatric, disabled, rural, homeless,
mentally ill, and racial and ethnic minority populations;
``(vi) the availability of emergency rooms, intensive care
units, maternity care, and specialty services;
``(vii) the quality of care in various hospital settings,
including inpatient, outpatient, emergency, maternity, and
intensive care unit settings;
``(viii) ongoing patient safety initiatives; and
``(ix) other measures determined appropriate by the
Secretary.
``(C)(i) In reporting data as provided for under subparagraph (A),
the Secretary may risk adjust quality measures to account for
differences relating to--
``(I) the characteristics of the reporting VA hospital,
such as licensed bed size, geography, and teaching hospital
status; and
``(II) patient characteristics, such as health status,
severity of illness, and socioeconomic status.
``(ii) If the Secretary reports data under subparagraph (A) using
risk-adjusted quality measures, the Secretary shall establish
procedures for making the unadjusted data available to the public in a
manner determined appropriate by the Secretary.
``(D) Under the Initiative, the Secretary may verify data reported
under this paragraph to ensure accuracy and validity.
``(E) The Secretary shall disclose the entire methodology for the
reporting of data under this paragraph to all relevant organizations
and VA hospitals that are the subject of any such information that is
to be made available to the public prior to the public disclosure of
such information.
``(F)(i) The Secretary shall submit each report to the appropriate
committees of Congress.
``(ii) The Secretary shall ensure that reports are made available
under this section in an electronic format, in an understandable manner
with respect to various populations (including those with low
functional health literacy), and in a manner that allows health care
quality comparisons to be made with local hospitals or regional
hospitals, as appropriate.
``(iii) The Secretary shall establish procedures for making report
findings available to the public, upon request, in a non-electronic
format, such as through a toll-free telephone number.
``(G) The analytic methodologies and limitations on data sources
utilized by the Secretary to develop and disseminate the comparative
data under this section shall be identified and acknowledged as part of
the dissemination of such data, and include the appropriate and
inappropriate uses of such data.
``(H) On at least an annual basis, the Secretary shall compare
quality measures data submitted by each VA hospital with data submitted
in the prior year or years by the same hospital in order to identify
and report actions that would lead to false or artificial improvements
in the hospital's quality measurements.
``(2)(A) The Secretary shall develop and implement effective
safeguards to protect against the unauthorized use or disclosure of VA
hospital data that is reported under this section.
``(B) The Secretary shall develop and implement effective
safeguards to protect against the dissemination of inconsistent,
incomplete, invalid, inaccurate, or subjective VA hospital data.
``(C) The Secretary shall ensure that identifiable patient data
shall not be released to the public.
``(d)(1) The Secretary shall evaluate and periodically submit a
report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Initiative, including
the effectiveness of the Initiative in meeting the purpose described in
section 2 of the VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007. The
Secretary shall make such reports available to the public.
``(2) The Secretary shall use the outcomes from the evaluation
conducted pursuant to paragraph (1) to increase the usefulness of the
Initiative.
``(e) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
section such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2008
through 2016.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of
chapter 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item
relating to section 1730 the following new item:
``1730A. Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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