[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1680 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1680

To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide the 
  authorized representative of a deceased beneficiary full access to 
 information with respect to the deceased beneficiary's benefits under 
                  the Medicare and Medicaid programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 17, 2009

Mr. Whitehouse introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to provide the 
  authorized representative of a deceased beneficiary full access to 
 information with respect to the deceased beneficiary's benefits under 
                  the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

    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 ``Expanding Access to Medical Records 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FULL ACCESS TO MEDICARE INFORMATION BY THE AUTHORIZED 
              REPRESENTATIVE OF A DECEASED BENEFICIARY.

    (a) In General.--Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``full access to medicare information by the authorized representative 
                       of a deceased beneficiary

    ``Sec. 1899.  (a) In General.--In the case of the death of an 
individual entitled to, or enrolled for, benefits under part A or 
enrolled for benefits under part B, the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) make available to the authorized representative of 
        the individual all information concerning the individual's 
        benefits under this title, including--
                    ``(A) the coverage and status of such benefits (as 
                of the day before the individual's death); and
                    ``(B) billing, claims, and payment information 
                regarding items and services furnished to the 
                individual under this title (on or before such day); 
                and
            ``(2) provide such authorized representative access to any 
        source of information maintained by the Federal government with 
        respect to such benefits, including online databases, that the 
        individual had access to during his or her lifetime.
    ``(b) Definition of Authorized Representative; Special Rules.--
            ``(1) In general.--In this section, the term `authorized 
        representative' means an executor, administrator, or other 
        individual who has authority to act on the deceased 
        individual's behalf (as determined by the Secretary under 
        paragraph (2)).
            ``(2) Determination of authorized representative.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish 
                procedures under which the Secretary determines whether 
                an individual is an authorized representative of the 
                deceased individual. Under such procedures, the 
                individual seeking such determination shall provide 
                evidence (in such form and such manner as specified by 
                the Secretary) of the individual's legal authority to 
                act on behalf of the deceased individual.
                    ``(B) Timeline for determination.--The Secretary 
                shall make a determination under subparagraph (A) not 
                later than 30 days after receipt of the evidence 
                described in such subparagraph.
            ``(3) Notification and access to information.--After making 
        a determination under paragraph (2) with respect to an 
        individual, the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) notify the individual of the determination 
                not later than 7 days after the date on which the 
                determination is made; and
                    ``(B) in the case where such individual is so 
                determined to be the authorized representative of the 
                deceased individual, as soon as practicable--
                            ``(i) make available to the authorized 
                        representative the information described in 
                        paragraph (1) of subsection (a); and
                            ``(ii) provide the authorized 
                        representative access to the sources described 
                        in paragraph (2) of such subsection.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall take 
effect on the date that is 60 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act.

SEC. 3. FULL ACCESS TO MEDICAID INFORMATION BY THE AUTHORIZED 
              REPRESENTATIVE OF A DECEASED BENEFICIARY.

    (a) In General.--Title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1396 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``full access to medicaid information by the authorized representative 
                       of a deceased beneficiary

    ``Sec. 1943.  (a) In General.--In the case of the death of an 
individual enrolled under the State plan for medical assistance or 
under a waiver of such plan, the State Medicaid agency shall--
            ``(1) make available to the authorized representative of 
        the individual all information concerning the individual's 
        benefits under this title, including--
                    ``(A) the coverage and status of such benefits (as 
                of the day before the individual's death); and
                    ``(B) billing, claims, and payment information 
                regarding items and services furnished to the 
                individual under this title (on or before such day); 
                and
            ``(2) provide such authorized representative access to any 
        source of information maintained by the State with respect to 
        such benefits, including online databases, that the individual 
        had access to during his or her lifetime.
    ``(b) Definition of Authorized Representative; Special Rules.--
            ``(1) In this section, the term `authorized representative' 
        means an executor, administrator, or other individual who has 
        authority to act on the deceased individual's behalf (as 
        determined by the State Medicaid agency under paragraph (2)).
            ``(2) Determination of authorized representative.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The State Medicaid agency shall 
                establish procedures under which such agency determines 
                whether an individual qualifies as an authorized 
                representative of the deceased individual. Under such 
                procedures, the individual seeking such a determination 
                shall provide evidence (in such form and such manner as 
                specified by the State Medicaid Agency) of the 
                individual's legal authority to act on behalf of the 
                deceased individual.
                    ``(B) Timeline for determination.--The State 
                Medicaid agency shall make a determination under 
                subparagraph (A) not later than 30 days after receipt 
                of the evidence described in such subparagraph.
            ``(3) Notification and access to information.--After making 
        a determination under paragraph (2) with respect to an 
        individual, the State Medicaid Agency shall--
                    ``(A) notify the individual of the determination 
                not later than 7 days after the date on which the 
                determination is made; and
                    ``(B) in the case where such individual is so 
                determined to be the authorized representative of the 
                deceased individual, as soon as practicable--
                            ``(i) make available to the authorized 
                        representative the information described in 
                        paragraph (1) of subsection (a); and
                            ``(ii) provide the authorized 
                        representative access to the sources described 
                        in paragraph (2) of such subsection.
    ``(c) Definition of State Medicaid Agency.--The term `State 
Medicaid agency' means the State agency responsible for administering 
the State plan established under this title or any waiver of such 
plan.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        amendment made by this section shall take effect on the date 
        that is 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
            (2) Extension of effective date for state law amendment.--
        In the case of a State plan under this title which the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services determines requires 
        State legislation in order for the plan to meet the additional 
        requirements imposed by the amendment made by subsection (a), 
        the State plan shall not be regarded as failing to comply with 
        the requirements of such title solely on the basis of its 
        failure to meet these additional requirements before the first 
        day of the first calendar quarter beginning after the close of 
        the first regular session of the State legislature that begins 
        after the date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of 
        the previous sentence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year 
        legislative session, each year of the session is considered to 
        be a separate regular session of the State legislature.
                                 <all>