[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2005 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2005

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the 
reporting of certain hospital payment data under the Medicare program, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 6, 2014

 Mr. Coburn (for himself and Mrs. McCaskill) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the 
reporting of certain hospital payment data under the Medicare program, 
                        and for other purposes.

    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 ``Consumer Learning through 
Electronically-Accessible and Reasonable Cost Information Act of 2013'' 
or the ``CLEAR Cost Information Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. REPORTING OF CERTAIN HOSPITAL PAYMENT DATA.

    (a) In General.--Section 1866 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395cc) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (V), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (W), as added by section 3005 
                of Public Law 111-148--
                            (i) by moving such subparagraph 2 ems to 
                        the left; and
                            (ii) by striking the period at the end and 
                        inserting a comma;
                    (C) in subparagraph (W), as added by section 
                6406(b) of Public Law 111-148--
                            (i) by moving such subparagraph 2 ems to 
                        the left;
                            (ii) by redesignating such subparagraph as 
                        subparagraph (X); and
                            (iii) by striking the period at the end and 
                        inserting ``, and''; and
                    (D) by inserting after subparagraph (X), as 
                redesignated by subparagraph (C)(ii), the following new 
                subparagraph:
            ``(Y) in the case of a subsection (d) hospital (as defined 
        in section 1886(d)(1)(B)), to report payment data to the 
        Secretary in accordance subsection (l).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(l) Reporting of Certain Hospital Payment Data.--
            ``(1) In general.--A subsection (d) hospital (as defined in 
        section 1886(d)(1)(B)) shall submit to the Secretary data on 
        the actual amounts collected by the hospital from uninsured and 
        insured patients over the preceding 2 years for each of the 
        procedures described in paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Procedures described.--The procedures described in 
        this paragraph are the 50 most common diagnosis-related groups 
        and ambulatory payment classification groups for which payment 
        is made under this title, as determined by the Secretary based 
        on claims data, in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.
            ``(3) Transparency.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In order to be beneficial to 
                consumers, the reporting of data under this subsection 
                shall be done in a manner that is transparent to the 
                general public.
                    ``(B) Public availability of information.--The 
                Secretary shall post data submitted under paragraph (1) 
                on a publicly accessible and searchable Internet 
                website in a form and manner that--
                            ``(i) allows for meaningful comparisons of 
                        hospital collections and related policies by 
                        zip code; and
                            ``(ii) is readily understandable by a 
                        typical consumer.
                    ``(C) Linking of data.--A subsection (d) hospital 
                shall include a link to the data posted under 
                subparagraph (B) on the home Internet website of the 
                hospital.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to contracts entered into, or renewed, on or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF INFORMATION ON CHARITY CARE FURNISHED BY HOSPITALS 
              IN MEDPAC'S ANNUAL REPORT.

    Each annual report submitted to Congress after the date of the 
enactment of this Act by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission under 
section 1805 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395b-6) shall 
contain information on the percentage that charity care makes up of the 
total care furnished by hospitals and critical access hospitals.

SEC. 4. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REPORT ON TRENDS IN LEVELS OF CHARITY 
              CARE PROVIDED BY CERTAIN HOSPITALS.

    (a) Posting of Data.--Section 9007(e)(2) of the Patient Protection 
and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148; 124 Stat. 858) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) Public availability.--The Secretary of the 
                Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Health 
                and Human Services, shall post the data contained in 
                the report under subparagraph (B) on a publicly 
                accessible and searchable website that--
                            ``(i) allows for meaningful comparisons of 
                        the data by zip code; and
                            ``(ii) is readily understandable by a 
                        typical consumer.''.
    (b) Medicare Requirement for Hospitals To Provide a Link to the 
Data on the Hospital's Home Webpage.--
            (1) In general.--Section 1866(a)(1) of the Social Security 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 1395cc(a)(1)), as amended by section 2, is 
        amended--
                    (A) in subparagraph (X), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (Y), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting ``, and''; and
                    (C) by inserting after subparagraph (Y) the 
                following new subparagraph:
                    ``(Z) in the case of hospitals and critical access 
                hospitals, to include a link on the home Internet 
                website of the hospital or critical access hospital to 
                the data posted under section 9007(e)(2)(C) of the 
                Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendments made by paragraph (1) 
        shall apply to contracts entered into, or renewed, on or after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act.
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