Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Consumer Learning through Electronically-Accessible and Reasonable Cost Information Act of 2013” or the “CLEAR Cost Information Act of 2013”.
Consumer Learning through Electronically-Accessible and Reasonable Cost Information Act of 2013
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the reporting of certain hospital payment data under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Reporting of certain hospital payment data
in subsection (a)(1)—
in subparagraph (V), by striking “and” at the end;
in subparagraph (W), as added by section 3005 of Public Law 111–148—
by moving such subparagraph 2 ems to the left; and
by striking the period at the end and inserting a comma;
in subparagraph (W), as added by section 6406(b) of Public Law 111–148—
by moving such subparagraph 2 ems to the left;
by redesignating such subparagraph as subparagraph (X); and
by striking the period at the end and inserting “, and”; and
by inserting after subparagraph (X), as redesignated by subparagraph (C)(ii), the following new subparagraph:
“(Y) in the case of a subsection (d) hospital (as defined in section 1886(d)(1)(B)), to report payment data to the Secretary in accordance subsection (l).”
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
“(l) Reporting of certain hospital payment data
“(1) In general—A subsection (d) hospital (as defined in section 1886(d)(1)(B)) shall submit to the Secretary data on the actual amounts collected by the hospital from uninsured and insured patients over the preceding 2 years for each of the procedures described in paragraph (2).
“(2) Procedures described—The procedures described in this paragraph are the 50 most common diagnosis-related groups and ambulatory payment classification groups for which payment is made under this title, as determined by the Secretary based on claims data, in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.
“(3) Transparency
“(A) In general—In order to be beneficial to consumers, the reporting of data under this subsection shall be done in a manner that is transparent to the general public.
“(B) Public availability of information—The Secretary shall post data submitted under paragraph (1) on a publicly accessible and searchable Internet website in a form and manner that—
“(i) allows for meaningful comparisons of hospital collections and related policies by zip code; and
“(ii) is readily understandable by a typical consumer.
“(C) Linking of data—A subsection (d) hospital shall include a link to the data posted under subparagraph (B) on the home Internet website of the hospital.”
Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply to contracts entered into, or renewed, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Sec. 3 Inclusion of information on charity care furnished by hospitals in MedPAC's annual report
Each annual report submitted to Congress after the date of the enactment of this Act by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission under section 1805 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395b–6) shall contain information on the percentage that charity care makes up of the total care furnished by hospitals and critical access hospitals.
Sec. 4 Public availability of report on trends in levels of charity care provided by certain hospitals
Posting of data— Section 9007(e)(2) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148; 124 Stat. 858) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(C) Public availability—The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall post the data contained in the report under subparagraph (B) on a publicly accessible and searchable website that—
“(i) allows for meaningful comparisons of the data by zip code; and
“(ii) is readily understandable by a typical consumer.”
Medicare requirement for hospitals To provide a link to the data on the hospital's home webpage—
In general— Section 1866(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395cc(a)(1)), as amended by section 2, is amended—
in subparagraph (X), by striking “and” at the end;
in subparagraph (Y), by striking the period at the end and inserting “, and”; and
by inserting after subparagraph (Y) the following new subparagraph:
“(Z) in the case of hospitals and critical access hospitals, to include a link on the home Internet website of the hospital or critical access hospital to the data posted under section 9007(e)(2)(C) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
Effective date— The amendments made by paragraph (1) shall apply to contracts entered into, or renewed, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.