[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2480 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2480

  To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publically 
  disclose the identity of long-term care facilities listed under the 
 Special Focus Facility Program of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
                               Services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 13, 2007

  Mrs. Clinton (for herself and Mr. Harkin) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publically 
  disclose the identity of long-term care facilities listed under the 
 Special Focus Facility Program of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
                               Services.

    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 ``Nursing Home Quality and 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) America's population is rapidly aging. The population 
        most likely to need long-term care, those 85 years of age and 
        older, is projected to increase from 5,000,000 in 2006 to 
        21,000,000 by 2050.
            (2) Currently approximately 10,000,000 Americans have long-
        term care needs. Conservative estimates indicate that the 
        number of those needing care will double by 2050.
            (3) Nearly 3,000,000 Americans depend on approximately 
        16,000 nursing homes nationwide at some point during each year 
        to provide them with care that is critical to their health and 
        well-being.
            (4) On November 29, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & 
        Medicaid Services (referred to in this section as ``CMS'') at 
        the Department of Health and Human Services released its first 
        ranking of poor-performing nursing homes.
            (5) This list of special focus facilities will give 
        families critical information as they are choosing nursing home 
        care for a loved one.
            (6) As of October 2007, there were 128 special focus 
        facilities identified by CMS. These nursing homes were 
        identified because they are among the poorest 5 to 10 percent 
        in each State.
            (7) Designation as a special focus facility results in 
        twice as many inspections and monthly documentation of all 
        complaints for nursing homes on the list.
            (8) CMS data indicate that about 50 percent of the nursing 
        homes identified as special focus facilities improve their 
        quality within 24 to 30 months, while about 16 percent are 
        terminated from participation in Medicare and Medicaid.
            (9) Despite the value of disclosing this information to 
        families, CMS released the names of only 52 of the 128 poor 
        performing nursing homes.
            (10) To promote transparency and quality in care, the names 
        of all nursing homes that are designated as special focus 
        facilities should be made available to the public.

SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF SPECIAL FOCUS FACILITIES.

    Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and 
monthly thereafter, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
disclose, through the use of the Internet website of the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services, the identities of those long-term care 
facilities that appear on the list of special focus facilities under 
the Special Focus Facility Program of the Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services.
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