H.R. 6598 (112th): Electronic Health Records Improvement Act

Introduced:
Nov 16, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Diane Black [R-TN6]
Status:
Died (Referred to Committee)
See Instead:
This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 1331 on Mar 21, 2013. See H.R. 1331 for current action on this subject.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced on November 16, 2012, in a previous session of Congress, but was not enacted.

Progress
Introduced Nov 16, 2012
Referred to Committee Nov 16, 2012
Cosponsors
5 cosponsors (5R) (show)
Committees

House Energy and Commerce

House Ways and Means

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend certain requirements and penalties implemented under the Medicare and Medicaid programs by the HITECH Act of 2009, which would otherwise impede eligible professionals from adopting electronic health records to improve patient care.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

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Last updated Nov 16, 2012.
20 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

11/16/2012--Introduced.
Electronic Health Records Improvement Act - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to exempt certain eligible physicians in solo practice and physicians near early retirement age from the application of the Medicare payment adjustment for not demonstrating electronic health record (EHR) meaningful use for certain payment years.
Establishes a special rebate for eligible professionals who receive a negative adjustment to their payments for failure to establish an EHR process but subsequently do establish a process meeting the criteria for establishing meaningful use of certified EHR technology.
Creates specified additional exceptions to the application of the Medicare negative payment adjustment for certain Medicaid providers participating in the Medicaid EHR incentive program and hospital-based eligible professionals not demonstrating EHR meaningful use.
Requires treatment of an eligible professional as a meaningful EHR user if the professional demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) use of a certified national speciality registry system in a meaningful manner.
Extends:
(1) Medicare EHR incentives (increased payments and adjustments) to eligible professionals practicing in rural health clinics, and
(2) Medicare ERx and quality reporting incentives to rural health clinics.
Disqualifies patient encounters of an eligible professional occurring at an ambulatory surgical center during certain performance years from treatment as a patient encounter in determining whether an eligible professional qualifies as a meaningful EHR user.
Exempts certain eligible professionals from certain EHR meaningful use requirements for purposes of the Medicare payment adjustment.
Creates a process for eligible professionals to appeal a determination that they did not qualify as a meaningful EHR user.
Amends SSA titles XVIII and XIX (Medicaid) to make certain requirements of the Electronic Health Records Act inapplicable to eligible professional Medicare incentives for certain Medicare Advantage organizations and professionals employed by them or furnishing services in them.

House Republican Conference Summary

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No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

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