Incentivizing Healthcare Quality Outcomes Act of 2014
Latest action. Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdictionA court's legal authority to hear a case: over the subject matter, the parties, and the territory.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) of the committee concerned.
Incentivizing Healthcare Quality Outcomes Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act. in order to incentivize healthcare quality outcomes, to prescribe specific adjustment factors for incentive payments to: (1) healthcare delivery organizations, and (2) healthcare professionals (who are not part of an applicable healthcare delivery organization) in a geographic region to coordinate care and reduce potentially preventable outcomes.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish geographic regions to which health professionals shall be assigned.
Requires the Secretary to select a methodology of identifying potentially preventable: (1) inpatient hospital complications, (2) admissions and readmissions, (3) emergency room visits, (4) outpatient procedures and tests, as well as (5) outcomes. Requires selection of a methodology also for risk adjusting the rate of each potentially preventable outcome.
Directs the Secretary to: (1) give confidential reports to healthcare delivery organizations with respect to potentially preventable outcomes, (2) make information available to the public regarding potentially preventable outcomes of each applicable healthcare delivery organization, (3) apply to state plans (or waivers) under SSA title XIX (Medicaid) regulations that will relate to payment adjustments for potentially preventable outcomes, and (4) award quality improvement grants to eligible healthcare delivery organizations with an organization-specific adjustment factor lower than the factor for 75% of all other such organizations.
Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the impact of this Act on Medicare beneficiaries' care, Medicare expenditures, and Medicare providers.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 9, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 9, 2014: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JIM MATHESON (D-UT) introduced it on December 9, 2014. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 9, 2014, 4293 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4293 days ago, on December 9, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers