[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 116 (Thursday, July 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S9617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. OBAMA:
  S. 1824. A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to 
establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative under the Medicare 
program to assess and report on health care quality in hospitals; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce the Hospital 
Quality Report Card Act, a quality-focused initiative that will 
actively engage all relevant stakeholder groups--patients, providers, 
administrators, and payers--and increase availability of information 
about the quality of health care services in local hospitals and health 
systems.
  We know that overall performance in our Nation's hospitals can vary 
tremendously, and is mediocre at best in many institutions. The 
academic literature has documented serious issues in health care 
quality for treatment of a number of conditions, including cardiac 
arrhythmias, hip replacements, and alcohol dependence to name just a 
few. But discussions of health care quality are not limited to academic 
exercises; patients and their families experience medical errors and 
substandard hospital care every day. Just last month, the L.A. Times 
reported an extreme case involving Ms. Edith Isabel Rodriguez. Ms. 
Rodriguez, a 43-year old American woman with a perforated bowel, 
suffered an excruciating and possibly preventable death, after lying 
unattended on the floor of an emergency room for 45 minutes. Our 
Nation's hospitals can do better and must do better.
  One step towards improving health care quality is collecting, 
analyzing, and reporting on health care quality, using measures that 
have been developed, validated, and accepted by the medical community. 
Not only will such measures assist hospitals by identifying problem 
areas and facilitating monitoring for improvement, but the transparency 
through public reporting will also help consumers and payers make 
informed decisions about where to obtain health services.
  The Hospital Quality Report Card Act grants the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services the power to collect hospital information related to 
the staffing levels of nurses and health professionals, the 
accreditation of hospitals, the quality of care for vulnerable 
populations, the availability of specialty services and intensive care 
units, hospital acquired infections, measures of crowding in emergency 
rooms, and other indicators of quality care. This information--focused 
on health care effectiveness, safety, timeliness, efficiency, patient-
centeredness, and equity--will be electronically accessible to the 
public. The report card initiative builds upon current work at the 
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as initiatives in a 
number States including my own home State of Illinois. I am proud to 
report that I was the primary sponsor of the Illinois Hospital Report 
Card Act that passed into law in 2003 and took effect in 2004.
  Our Nation's reputation of having one of the best health care systems 
in the world needs to be restored, and this won't happen until we can 
assure the American people that our hospitals are doing a better job 
offering top-notch quality care. The Hospital Quality Report Card 
Initiative will help by expanding and reporting quality measurement, 
which will provide an incentive for hospitals to do better and valuable 
information to patients and consumers. I ask that you support the 
Hospital Quality Report Card Act and help my efforts to pass this 
legislation.
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