[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 5, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S7076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GREGG (for himself and Mrs. Clinton):
  S. 1544. A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to 
improve the quality and efficiency of health care, to provide the 
public with information on provider and supplier performance, and to 
enhance the education and awareness of consumers for evaluating health 
care services through the development and release of reports based on 
Medicare enrollment, claims, survey, and assessment data; to the 
Committee on Finance.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, the United States spends more on health 
care as a percentage of GDP than any other industrialized country and 
costs continue to rise. However, there is significant variation in the 
quality of health care consumers receive. Are we getting a good deal? 
The Medicare Quality Enhancement Act, which I have introduced today 
with Senator Clinton, seeks to improve U.S. health care by providing 
qualified private-sector organizations access to Medicare data for the 
development and release of reports on the quality, cost, efficiency and 
effectiveness of our health care system.
  Consumer groups, employers, insurance companies, labor unions and 
others have repeatedly requested access to Medicare data to improve the 
quality of the health care provided to their members, employees and 
beneficiaries and to help control the ever-rising costs of health care. 
While there remains legal debate over whether this data can be 
released, the Medicare Quality Enhancement Act ensures that the data 
collected by Medicare and paid for by the taxpayer can be utilized by 
qualified organizations to measure quality and control costs while 
protecting beneficiary privacy.
  The Medicare Quality Enhancement Act of 2007: requires CMS to provide 
Medicare enrollment, claims, survey and assessment data to private 
sector Medicare Quality Reporting Organizations, MQROs, to develop 
reports to measure health care quality for the public; mandates the 
protection of beneficiary privacy; empowers consumer groups, providers, 
employers, insurance plans, labor unions and others to request reports 
from MQROs; and provides for the public release of all reports.
  Attempts are already being made by employers and insurance companies 
to measure quality. However, with limited amounts of privately held 
data, their analysis is not broad enough to provide the most accurate 
results. However, MQROs will have access to Medicare data and be 
authorized to aggregate both private and public data, providing a 
significantly more robust assessment of both quality and efficiency 
while requiring the complete protection of beneficiary health 
information.
  In order for America's health care system to improve, we need to know 
more and understand the quality of the care we are purchasing. The time 
has come for the health care community to compete on quality, value and 
cost, and not be rewarded simply for volume of care provided.
  The Medicare Quality Enhancement Act ensures that the public will 
finally have the tools necessary to make informed health care decisions 
for themselves and their families.
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