3.0.0 2766 2023-01-14T22:48:25Z 2023-01-14T22:48:25Z Senate S S 2004-07-22 108 ssfi00 Finance Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2004-07-23T01:05:06Z 2004-07-22 ssfi00 Finance Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. IntroReferral 2004-07-22 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S8754-8755) IntroReferral B00100 9 Library of Congress 2004-07-22 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress S000709 Sen. Specter, Arlen [R-PA] ARLEN SPECTER R PA N Health Agriculture and Food Anesthetics Appropriate technology Career education Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues Clinics Commerce Community health services Confidential communications Congress Congressional reporting requirements Continuing education Curricula Data banks Drug industry Drug interactions Drugs Economics and Public Finance Education Elementary and secondary education Emergency Management Emergency medicine Employee training Excise tax Families Family medicine Federal aid to education Federal aid to health facilities Government Operations and Politics Government paperwork Government trust funds Health education Health information systems Health insurance Higher education Hospitals Human engineering Identification devices Information technology Labor and Employment Maternal health services Mathematics Medicaid Medical associations Medical education Medical fees Medical laboratories Medical personnel Medical research Medical residents Medical statistics Medical technology Medically uninsured Medicare Nurse practitioners Nurses Nutrition Osteopathy and osteopaths Patients' rights Pharmacies Physicians' assistants Prescription pricing Preventive medicine Quality of care Right of privacy Science, Technology, Communications Scientific education Secondary education Social Welfare Standards Technological innovations Technology assessment Women Health 00 2004-07-22 Introduced in Senate 2004-09-15T20:25:47Z Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2004 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), as amended by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, with respect to prescription drug plans, to repeal the prohibition against interference by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) with negotiations between drug manufacturers and pharmacies and prescription drug plan sponsors, and against the Secretary's requiring a particular formulary or instituting a price structure for the reimbursement of covered part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) drugs. Grants the Secretary authority similar to that of other Federal entities that purchase prescription drugs in bulk to negotiate contracts with manufacturers of covered part D drugs.

Directs the HHS Secretary report regularly to Congress a comparison of the prices for covered part D drugs with the average price a retail pharmacy would charge an individual who does not have health insurance coverage for purchasing the same strength, quanity, and dosage form of such drugs.

Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the initial standard prescription drug coverage limit of $2,250 (adjusted for inflation).

Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the HHS Secretary to make grants available to States to establish reporting systems designed according to guidelines developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to reduce medical errors and improve health care quality.

Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Agency, to establish a program funding at least 15 demonstration projects to determine the causes of medical errors and develop specified methods to reduce them.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide for establishment of a national database of medical errors; (2) educate patients and family members about their role in reducing medical errors; (3) develop programs that encourage patients to take a more active role in their medical treatment; and (4) make grants to health professional associations and other organizations to provide training in ways to reduce medical errors.

Establishes in the Treasury a Trust Fund for Medical Treatment Outcomes research.

Directs the HHS Secretary to: (1) provide grants and contracts to enhance development of information technology standards by the private sector; and (2) establish programs of medical student tutorial program grants and of general medical practice grants.

Increases the Medicare reimbursement for physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and clinical nurse specialists. Requires Medicaid coverage of such health professionals as well as certified registered nurse anesthetists.

]]> Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2004 Display Title Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2004 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower prices for medicare prescription drugs and to eliminate the gap in coverage of medicare prescription drug benefits, to reduce medical errors and increase the use of medical technology, to increase services in primary and preventive care by non-physician providers, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced Prescription Drug and Health Improvement Act of 2004 Introduced in Senate 2004-07-22T04:00:00Z 2004-07-22 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.