[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 800 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 800

    To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require the 
governing boards of Medicare national accrediting entities have public 
 representation and have public meetings as a condition of recognizing 
            their accreditation under the Medicare Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 1997

  Mr. Stark introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require the 
governing boards of Medicare national accrediting entities have public 
 representation and have public meetings as a condition of recognizing 
            their accreditation under the Medicare Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REQUIREMENTS FOR GOVERNING BOARDS OF MEDICARE ACCREDITING 
              ENTITIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1865 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395bb) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``, subsection (f),'' 
        after ``subsection (b)'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ``except as provided 
        in subsection (f),'' after ``In addition,''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(f) The previous provisions of this section shall not apply to 
accreditation of a hospital or other provider entity by any national 
accreditation body unless--
            ``(1) at least one-third of the membership of the governing 
        board of the body is composed of individuals who are members of 
        the public approved by the Secretary (no later than 60 days 
        after submission) and who are not employed by (or otherwise 
        under contract with) the body (or any entity accredited by the 
        organization) or an immediate family member of an individual 
        who is so employed or under contract with the body or such an 
        entity; and
            ``(2) meetings of the governing board of the body are open 
        to the public to the extent such meetings would be required to 
        be open to the public under section 552b of title 5, United 
        States Code, if the body were an agency for purposes of such 
        section.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to the composition of the governing board and meetings of such 
board as of January 1, 1998, with respect to accreditations occurring 
on or after such date.
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