[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4142 Introduced in House (IH)]


109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4142

    To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide health 
  information technology grants to States and transform the Medicaid 
   Program by reducing the number of medical and medication errors, 
 unnecessary hospitalizations, infections and inappropriate care that 
 exists within the current system and save thousands of lives and tens 
                     of billions of dollars a year.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 25, 2005

  Mr. Murphy introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide health 
  information technology grants to States and transform the Medicaid 
   Program by reducing the number of medical and medication errors, 
 unnecessary hospitalizations, infections and inappropriate care that 
 exists within the current system and save thousands of lives and tens 
                     of billions of dollars a year.

    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 ``Medicaid Transformation Grant Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. MEDICAID TRANSFORMATION GRANTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1396b) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(x) Medicaid Transformation Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--In addition to the payments provided 
        under subsection (a), subject to paragraph (4), the Secretary 
        shall provide for payments under subsection (a) to States for 
        the adoption of innovative methods to improve the effectiveness 
        and efficiency in providing medical assistance under this 
        title.
            ``(2) Permissible uses of funds.--The following are 
        examples of innovative methods for which funds provided under 
        this subsection may be used:
                    ``(A) Methods for reducing patient error rates 
                through the implementation and use of electronic health 
                records, electronic clinical decision support tools, or 
                e-prescribing programs.
                    ``(B) Methods for improving rates of collection 
                from estates of amounts owed under this title.
                    ``(C) Methods for reducing waste, fraud, and abuse 
                under the program under this title, such as reducing 
                improper payment rates as measured by annual payment 
                error rate measurement (PERM) project rates.
                    ``(D) Use of medication therapy management.
            ``(3) Application; terms and conditions.--
                    ``(A) In general.--No payments shall be made to a 
                State under this subsection unless the State applied to 
                the Secretary for such payments in a form, manner, and 
                time specified by the Secretary.
                    ``(B) Terms and conditions.--Such payments are made 
                under such terms and conditions consistent with this 
                subsection as the Secretary prescribes.
                    ``(C) Annual report.--Payment to a State under this 
                subsection is conditioned on the State submitting to 
                the Secretary an annual report on the programs 
                supported by such payment. Such report shall include 
                information on--
                            ``(i) the specific uses of such payment;
                            ``(ii) an assessment of quality 
                        improvements and clinical outcomes under such 
                        programs; and
                            ``(iii) estimates of cost savings resulting 
                        from such programs.
            ``(4) Funding.--
                    ``(A) Limitation on funds.--The total amount of 
                payments under this subsection shall be equal to, and 
                shall not exceed--
                            ``(i) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and
                            ``(ii) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008.
                This subsection constitutes budget authority in advance 
                of appropriations Acts and represents the obligation of 
                the Secretary to provide for the payment of amounts 
                provided under this subsection.
                    ``(B) Allocation of funds.--The Secretary shall 
                specify a method for allocating the funds made 
                available under this subsection among States. Such 
                method shall provide preference for States that design 
                programs that target health providers that treat 
                significant numbers of medicaid beneficiaries.
                    ``(C) Form and manner of payment.--Payment to a 
                State under this subsection shall be made in the same 
                manner as other payments under section 1903(a). There 
                is no requirement for State matching funds to receive 
                payments under this subsection.''.
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