[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1860 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1860

 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish information on 
the provision of health care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 16, 2015

 Mr. Boustany introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish information on 
the provision of health care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ``Equalizing Transparency for Veterans 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION ON PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE BY 
              DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Publication of Information.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than two years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter, the 
        Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall publish on an Internet 
        database of the Department of Veterans Affairs that is 
        publically available information on the provision of health 
        care by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (2) Elements.--
                    (A) Medical facilities.--With respect to each 
                medical facility of the Department, including community 
                based outpatient clinics, each publication required by 
                paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, the 
                following:
                            (i) The measures regarding inpatient and 
                        outpatient care made publically available by 
                        the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
                        pursuant to section 1886(b)(3)(B)(viii)(VII) of 
                        the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
                        1395ww(b)(3)(B)(viii)(VII)), including with 
                        respect to emergency department throughput 
                        measures, hospital consumer assessment of 
                        health-care providers and systems, and the 
                        national healthcare safety network.
                            (ii) Per each discharged patient of such a 
                        facility--
                                    (I) the average length of stay;
                                    (II) the opioid prescription rate; 
                                and
                                    (III) the suicide rate.
                            (iii) The average number of days a patient 
                        waited beginning on the date on which an 
                        appointment or procedure was requested and 
                        ending on the date on which the appointment or 
                        procedure occurred.
                    (B) Nursing homes.--With respect to each nursing 
                home of the Department of Veterans Affairs, each 
                publication required by paragraph (1) shall include, at 
                a minimum, any measures that the Secretary of Health 
                and Human Services makes publically available with 
                respect to Medicare nursing homes.
                    (C) Period covered.--The information included 
                pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (B) in each 
                publication required by paragraph (1) shall cover the 
                period that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
                determines is equivalent to the period covered by the 
                Secretary of Health and Human Services in publishing 
                similar information.
            (3) Personal information.--The Secretary shall ensure that 
        personal information connected to information published under 
        paragraph (1) is protected from disclosure as required by 
        applicable law.
    (b) Validation.--The Secretary shall establish a process to 
validate the information published under subsection (a). Such process 
shall include the following:
            (1) An audit of a number of randomly selected medical 
        facilities that is sufficient to ensure the validity of such 
        information.
            (2) An opportunity for a medical facility described in 
        paragraph (1) to appeal the validation of such information.
    (c) Annual Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 
submit to Congress a report that includes--
            (1) a listing of the facilities of the Department that rank 
        within the bottom quartile on each quality measure used by the 
        Secretary to determine such rankings, including, as applicable, 
        the measures used in the database under subsection (a); and
            (2) a plan to improve each such facility.
    (d) Comptroller General Report.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall submit to Congress a report setting forth 
recommendations for additional elements to be included with the 
information published under subsection (a) to improve the evaluation 
and assessment of the safety and health of individuals receiving care 
under the laws administered by the Secretary and the quality of care 
received by such individuals.
    (e) Toll-Free Hotline on Care Provided.--Not later than two years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--
            (1) establish a toll-free telephone number for individuals 
        to use to notify the Secretary of low-quality care being 
        provided at a health care facility of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs; and
            (2) ensure that patients at such a health care facility, 
        and caregivers of such patients, are informed of such telephone 
        number.
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