120 STAT. 2984
PUBLIC LAW 109–432—DEC. 20, 2006
SEC. 109. QUALITY REPORTING FOR HOSPITAL OUTPATIENT SERVICES AND AMBULATORY SURGICAL CENTER SERVICES.
(a) OUTPATIENT HOSPITAL SERVICES.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1833(t) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(t)) is amended— (A) in paragraph (3)(C)(iv), by inserting ‘‘subject to paragraph (17),’’ after ‘‘For purposes of this subparagraph,’’; and (B) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ‘‘(17) QUALITY REPORTING.— ‘‘(A) REDUCTION IN UPDATE FOR FAILURE TO REPORT.— ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of paragraph (3)(C)(iv) for 2009 and each subsequent year, in the case of a subsection (d) hospital (as defined in section 1886(d)(1)(B)) that does not submit, to the Secretary in accordance with this paragraph, data required to be submitted on measures selected under this paragraph with respect to such a year, the OPD fee schedule increase factor under paragraph (3)(C)(iv) for such year shall be reduced by 2.0 percentage points. ‘‘(ii) NON-CUMULATIVE APPLICATION.—A reduction under this subparagraph shall apply only with respect to the year involved and the Secretary shall not take into account such reduction in computing the OPD fee schedule increase factor for a subsequent year. ‘‘(B) FORM AND MANNER OF SUBMISSION.—Each subsection (d) hospital shall submit data on measures selected under this paragraph to the Secretary in a form and manner, and at a time, specified by the Secretary for purposes of this paragraph. ‘‘(C) DEVELOPMENT OF OUTPATIENT MEASURES.— ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop measures that the Secretary determines to be appropriate for the measurement of the quality of care (including medication errors) furnished by hospitals in outpatient settings and that reflect consensus among affected parties and, to the extent feasible and practicable, shall include measures set forth by one or more national consensus building entities. ‘‘(ii) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as preventing the Secretary from selecting measures that are the same as (or a subset of) the measures for which data are required to be submitted under section 1886(b)(3)(B)(viii). ‘‘(D) REPLACEMENT OF MEASURES.—For purposes of this paragraph, the Secretary may replace any measures or indicators in appropriate cases, such as where all hospitals are effectively in compliance or the measures or indicators have been subsequently shown not to represent the best clinical practice. ‘‘(E) AVAILABILITY OF DATA.—The Secretary shall establish procedures for making data submitted under this paragraph available to the public. Such procedures shall ensure that a hospital has the opportunity to review the data that are to be made public with respect to the hospital prior to such data being made public. The Secretary shall report quality measures of process, structure, outcome,
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