[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2844 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2844

   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value 
  indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare 
                        physician fee schedule.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2009

 Mr. Kind (for himself, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Walz, 
 and Mr. Inslee) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 
 on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to create a value 
  indexing mechanism for the physician work component of the Medicare 
                        physician fee schedule.

    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 ``Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. VALUE INDEX UNDER THE MEDICARE PHYSICIAN FEE SCHEDULE.

    (a) In General.--Section 1848(e)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395w-4(e)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(6) Value index.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall determine a 
                value index for each fee schedule area. The value index 
                shall be the ratio of the quality component under 
                subparagraph (B) to the cost component under 
                subparagraph (C) for that fee schedule area.
                    ``(B) Quality component.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The quality component 
                        shall be based on a composite score that 
                        reflects quality measures available on a State 
                        or fee schedule area basis. The measures shall 
                        reflect health outcomes and health status for 
                        the Medicare population, patient safety, and 
                        patient satisfaction. The Secretary shall use 
                        the best data available, after consultation 
                        with the Agency for Healthcare Research and 
                        Quality and with private entities that compile 
                        quality data.
                            ``(ii) Requirement.--In establishing the 
                        quality component under this subparagraph, the 
                        Secretary shall take into account the 
                        following:
                                    ``(I) Hospital readmission rates.
                                    ``(II) Hospital emergency 
                                department utilization for ambulatory 
                                care-sensitive conditions.
                                    ``(III) Hospital admissions for 
                                ambulatory care-sensitive conditions.
                                    ``(IV) Mortality amenable to health 
                                care.
                                    ``(V) Other items determined 
                                appropriate by the Secretary.
                            ``(iii) Establishment.--The quality 
                        component for each fee schedule area shall be 
                        the ratio of the quality score for such area to 
                        the national average quality score.
                            ``(iv) Application.--In the case of a fee 
                        schedule area that is less than an entire 
                        State, if available quality data is not 
                        sufficient to measure quality at the sub-State 
                        level, the quality component for a sub-State 
                        fee schedule area shall be the quality 
                        component for the entire State.
                    ``(C) Cost component.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The cost component shall 
                        be total annual per beneficiary Medicare 
                        expenditures under part A and this part for the 
                        fee schedule area. The Secretary may use total 
                        per beneficiary expenditures under such parts 
                        in the last two years of life as an alternative 
                        measure if the Secretary determines that such 
                        measure better takes into account severity 
                        differences among fee schedule areas.
                            ``(ii) Establishment.--The cost component 
                        for a fee schedule area shall be the ratio of 
                        the cost per beneficiary for such area to the 
                        national average cost per beneficiary.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 1848 of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1395w-4) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (b)(1)(C), by striking ``geographic'' 
        and inserting ``geographic and value''; and
            (2) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in the heading, by inserting ``and 
                        value'' after ``geographic'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
                        clause (iii) and inserting the following new 
                        clause:
                            ``(iii) a value index (as defined in 
                        paragraph (6)) applicable to physician work.'';
                            (iii) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 
                        ``and value'' after ``geographic'' in the first 
                        sentence;
                            (iv) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
                        ``physician work effort'' and inserting 
                        ``value'';
                            (v) by striking subparagraph (E); and
                            (vi) by striking subparagraph (G);
                    (B) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 
                following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Computation of geographic and value adjustment 
        factor.--For purposes of subsection (b)(1)(C), for all 
        physicians' services for each fee schedule area the Secretary 
        shall establish a geographic and value adjustment factor equal 
        to the sum of the geographic cost-of-practice adjustment factor 
        (specified in paragraph (3)), the geographic malpractice 
        adjustment factor (specified in paragraph (4)), and the value 
        adjustment factor (specified in paragraph (5)) for the service 
        and the area.''; and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the 
                following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Physician work value adjustment factor.--For purposes 
        of paragraph (2), the `physician work value adjustment factor' 
        for a service for a fee schedule area, is the product of--
                    ``(A) the proportion of the total relative value 
                for the service that reflects the relative value units 
                for the work component; and
                    ``(B) the value index score for the area, based on 
                the value index established under paragraph (6).''.
    (c) Availability of Quality Component Prior to Implementation.--The 
Secretary of Health and Human Services shall make the quality component 
described in section 1848(c)(6)(B) of the Social Security Act, as added 
by subsection (a), for each fee schedule area available to the public 
by not later than January 1, 2011.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to the Medicare physician fee schedule for 2012 and each 
subsequent year.
                                 <all>