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Law· HRH.R. 3514 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 22 November 1999
Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection Act - Amends title IV of the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide for the establishment and operation of a national sanctuary system for all surplus federally owned chimpanzees that are no longer needed in research conducted or supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, or other Federal agencies. Mandates that any surplus chimpanzee that is not owned by the Federal Government be accepted into the system if the owner transfers title to the chimpanzee to the sanctuary system. Provides for standards for permanent retirement of chimpanzees into the system. Requires such standards to empower the Secretary to authorize imposition of a fee (except in certain circumstances) for accepting a non-Federal chimpanzee into the system. Directs the Secretary to contract with a nonprofit private entity to establish and operate the system. Provides for funding. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants or contracts for the operation of facilities that provide for the retirement of chimpanzees in accordance with the same standards that apply to the sanctuary system.
Bill· SS. 1996 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1999
Amends the Public Health Service Act concerning the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to specify, in addition to other current requirements, that a petition for compensation under the Program for a vaccine-related injury or death must contain, subject to exception, an affidavit, and supporting documentation, demonstrating that the person who suffered such injury or who died suffered such illness, disability, injury or condition from the vaccine which resulted in inpatient hospitalization and surgical intervention to correct such illness, disability, injury or condition.
Bill· SS. 1987 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1999
Older and Disabled Women's Protection From Violence Act of 1999 - Title I: Violence Against Women Act of 1994 - Amends the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 to direct the Attorney General to: (1) make grants to law school clinical programs to fund inclusion of cases addressing issues of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including domestic violence, and sexual assault against older or disabled individuals; and (2) develop curricula and develop training programs to assist Federal, State, and tribal law enforcement personnel (including local courts) in recognizing, investigating, and prosecuting instances of such abuse. (Sec. 101) Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act - Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to instruct the Secretary to include, within grants for State domestic violence coalitions, funds to develop outreach, support groups, and counseling targeted towards: (1) victims of elder domestic abuse, and (2) individuals with disabilities who are victims of domestic violence. (Sec. 204) Expands the eligibility criteria for community initiative demonstration grants to include adult protective services entities. Title III: Older Americans Act of 1965 - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to direct the Assistant Secretary for Aging to consider the importance of research about the sexual assault of women who are older individuals when establishing research priorities. (Sec. 304) Expands the scope of eligible demonstration projects to include domestic violence shelters and programs for elder individuals. (Sec. 305) Authorizes appropriations without fiscal year limitation to implement the ombudsman program and the elder abuse prevention program. (Sec. 306) Directs the Assistant Secretary to: (1) make grants to nonprofit private or tribal organizations to support local community initiatives to coordinate activities concerning intervention and prevention of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including domestic violence and sexual assault against older individuals; and (2) implement and update continuing education training programs for adult protective service workers, persons carrying out a State Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, health care providers, and community-based social service providers to improve recognition and treatment of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including domestic violence and sexual assault against older and disabled individuals. Title IV: Public Health Service Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize area health education center programs to use Federal grants to conduct and participate in interdisciplinary training that includes domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse screening, and referral protocols. (Sec. 402) Mandates that federally funded geriatric training for: (1) area health education center programs include training of faculty to provide instruction regarding identification and treatment of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse; and (2) physicians and dentists include screening for elder abuse and domestic violence and sexual assault. Title V: Financial Exploitation of Older Individuals - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to study and to report to Congress on the nature and extent of financial exploitation of older individuals.
Bill· SS. 1981 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 November 1999
Genetics and Public Health Services Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to States to establish, improve, and maintain State public health infrastructure for genetics. Directs the Secretary to award grants to public or nonprofit private entities and institutions of higher education to carry out studies or to establish pilot and demonstration public health programs for the diagnosis and management of genetic diseases, education projects for health care providers and the general public, population studies relating to genetics, and related activities. Provides authorized grant uses, including to establish, expand, and maintain systems to provide quality genetic information, counseling, testing, and specialty services. Requires program, project, or study participation to be voluntary. Establishes the Advisory Committee on Genetics and Public Health Services to: (1) provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary concerning grants and projects; (2) provide technical information for the development of grant administration policies and priorities; and (3) submit a report to Congress concerning grant activities. Outlines provisions concerning grant application requirements and allocation of funds (the latter to be based on a population formula). Provides a matching funds requirement of $2 for every $3 of Federal funding. Requires annual reports from: (1) each State participating in grant programs, projects, or studies; and (2) the Health Resources and Services Administration, together with the Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Requires each participating State and territory to audit its grant expenditures biennially and transmit audit results to the Secretary. Requires repayment of amounts found to have been improperly expended. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2009.
Bill· SS. 1959 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1999 - Title I: Increased Accountability and Elimination of Wasteful Spending - Subtitle A: Penalties for Failure to Reduce Teen Smoking - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) publish annually the results of an annual cigarette survey of the percentage of all individuals under the age of 18 who used a type of cigarette in the 30 days prior to the survey and the percentage of such individuals who identify each brand of each type of cigarette as the usual brand smoked in those 30 days; and (2) determine, comparing the survey results to a survey entitled "Monitoring the Future" conducted at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, the percentage reduction (if any) in youth cigarette use for each cigarette manufacturer. Authorizes the Secretary, notwithstanding any other provision of law, to conduct a survey under these provisions involving minors if the results of the survey are kept confidential and not disclosed. Makes provisions of Federal law relating to coordination of Federal information policy inapplicable to information required for carrying out these provisions. (Sec. 102) Sets a goal that each manufacturer reduce youth cigarette use by at least 15 percent between the Monitoring the Future survey and the first annual survey and between each annual survey and the previous annual survey. Mandates industry-wide monetary penalties of $4 - $8 billion if the goal is not reached, to be paid by each manufacturer based on the percentage of cigarettes of each manufacturer that are used by youth. Exempts from penalty a manufacturer that: (1) individually complies with the goal; or (2) has a market share of one percent or less of youth cigarette use. Prohibits considering penalties to be business expenses for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code and makes them nondeductible. Provides for judicial review. Prohibits, notwithstanding any other provision of law, any court from staying any payment due pending judicial review until the Secretary has made or failed to make a compliance determination that has adversely affected the person seeking review. (Sec. 103) Imposes a penalty for failure to make any payment within 10 days after payment is due. Sets the penalty at two percent of the penalty owed for each day after payment is due until payment is paid in full. Subtitle B: Tobacco Advertising - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit the deduction of tobacco advertising and promotional expenses. Subtitle C: Medicare Waste Elimination - Medicare Waste Tax Reduction Act of 1999 - Amends titles XI and XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and other specified Federal law to mandate various specified measures to combat Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse. (Sec. 122) Includes among such measures: (1) increased medical, utilization, and fraud reviews in a fiscal year; (2) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversight of home health agencies; (3) an information system for ensuring that Medicare does not reimburse claims owed by other payers; (4) civil monetary penalties for services ordered or prescribed by an excluded individual or entity, as well as for false certification of eligibility for partial hospitalization and hospice services; (5) exemption of health plans, plan issuers, and employees from liability for providing information regarding health care fraud; (6) exclusion of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and an individual's personal residence from covered locations for the provision of partial hospitalization services; (7) new health, safety, and anti-fraud requirements for community mental health centers with respect to partial hospitalization services; (8) authority for the HHS Secretary to establish a prospective payment system (PPS) for partial hospitalization services provided by a community mental health center or by a hospital; (9) repeal of certain factors required by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 for determination of the inherent reasonableness of costs for all Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) services other than physicians' services; (10) mandatory establishment of standards regarding payment for certain orthotics and prosthetics; (11) authority for the Secretary to contract for Medicare claims processing with agencies and organizations that are not insurance companies, and to renew contracts with fiscal intermediaries meeting performance requirements without competitive procedures; and (12) addition of Y2K compliance to fiscal intermediary contract performance requirements. (Sec. 124) Reduces the reimbursement to physicians, suppliers, or other service providers for drugs and biologicals from 95 percent of the average wholesale price to the lowest of 83 percent of such price, the actual acquisition cost, or an even lower amount according to a specified formula. Repeals the mandate of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 for reports on the average wholesale price of drugs and biologicals. (Sec. 129) Provides that Medicare- and Medicaid-related actions shall not be stayed by bankruptcy proceedings, nor Medicare- and Medicaid-related debt discharged in bankruptcy. (Sec. 131) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a procedure for enrolling and re-enrolling, for an appropriate fee, non-service providers that furnish covered health care items or services. (Sec. 132) Directs the HHS Secretary to: (1) develop and implement a comprehensive plan of activities to increase Medicare compliance, education, and assistance for health care providers; and (2) contract with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to establish a committee to study Medicare administrative requirements applicable to Medicare health care providers, and make recommendations on how Medicare paperwork and administrative requirements can be minimized. Authorizes appropriations for such study. (Sec. 134) Specifies application of certain sanctions to Federal health care programs. (Sec. 135) Revises alternative criteria for payments for durable medical equipment (DME) to include the least expensive amount that the item supplier is paid by a Medicare+Choice organization or by any Federal health care program. Requires the Secretary to adjust the payment rate for any DME administrative costs exceeding those associated with providing a particular item to a Medicare+Choice organization or another Federal health care program. (Sec. 136) Outlines provisions for implementation of a commercial claims auditing system for Medicare carriers in processing claims under Medicare part B. (Sec. 138) Authorizes appropriations for carrying out and expanding nationwide the Health Care Anti-Fraud, Waste and Abuse Community Volunteer Demonstration Projects (Medicare Senior Waste Patrol) conducted by the Administration on Aging. (Sec. 141) Repeals certain conditions for the termination of agreements with agencies or organizations for the processing of Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) claims. Revises requirements for performance standards and criteria for fiscal intermediaries. Changes certain cost reimbursement provisions from mandatory to discretionary. Repeals the Secretary's mandate, in determining administration costs, to take into account the reasonable and adequate amount to meet such costs which must be incurred by an efficiently and economically operated carrier in carrying out its contract terms. Subtitle D: Reduction in Student Loan Fees - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to revise requirements relating to student loan fees for insurance premiums under the programs of subsidized Federal Stafford loans, unsubsidized Stafford loans, and PLUS parent loans. (Sec. 151) Requires each State or nonprofit private institution or organization having an agreement with the Secretary of Education under each such loan program to charge the borrower a single insurance premium in the amount of one percent of the principal amount of the loan. Requires the proceeds of the insurance premium to be paid to the Federal Government for deposit into the Treasury. Subtitle E: Limitations on Defense Funding for Fiscal Years 2000 Through 2004 - Places specified limits on the total budget authority for budget function 050 (national defense) for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2004. Requires such amounts to be expended without adversely affecting military readiness and the quality of life of military personnel, military retirees, and their families. (Sec. 163) Prohibits amounts expended for readiness, or peacekeeping operations that began before September 30, 1999, from being considered emergency expenditures under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, with an exception for any such operation that significantly increases in size or tempo after such date. Subtitle F: Internal Revenue Code Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the taxation of estates valued at over $10 million. (Sec. 172) Denies the percentage depletion deduction for certain nonfuel minerals mined on Federal lands. Prohibits aggregating a separate operating mineral interest in any such nonfuel minerals with an interest other than such nonfuel minerals. (Sec. 173) Limits the foreign earned income exclusion to taxable years beginning before January 1, 2000. Maintains the exclusion for the housing costs of U.S. citizens living abroad. (Sec. 174) Provides for the application of the straight-line method of depreciation to tobacco manufacturing equipment. (Sec. 175) Prohibits eligibility for the foreign tax credit of certain foreign taxes paid on foreign oil and gas income. Eliminates the tax exclusion status of foreign oil and gas extraction income by redefining the term "foreign base company oil related income." (Sec. 176) States that the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to reallocate income and deductions among taxpayers in order to prevent tax evasion or clearly reflect income among organizations or businesses owned or controlled by the same interests shall not be limited by any restriction on the ability of such organizations or businesses to transfer or receive property. Title II: Miscellaneous Provisions - Prohibits Federal funds from being made available to carry out the Television Broadcasting to Cuba Act or the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act. (Sec. 202) Bars the use of funds available for the Department of Energy (DOE) National Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Program to pay the costs of lobbying any Federal, State, or local government officer or employee on the question of the establishment of a low-level radioactive waste storage site at any location. (Sec. 203) Prohibits the use of DOE funds to carry out the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative. (Sec. 204) Limits the total amount of budget authority available for a fiscal year to Federal agencies for travel and transportation of persons, transportation of things, printing and reproduction, advisory and assistance services, and supplies and materials to the actual expenditures for such object classes in FY 1998. (Sec. 205) Amends provisions of the Social Security Act regarding the Federal Parent Locator Service to provide for disclosure to the Secretary of Education of certain information in the National Directory of New Hires on individuals who are in default on certain loans or owe obligations to refund overpayments of grants made under the Higher Education Act. Establishes conditions on such disclosure, including that priority be given to support collection over collection of such loans or grants and that such information be used only for collecting debt owed by individuals whose annualized wage level exceeds $16,000. Permits such information to be used only for collection purposes.
Bill· SS. 1955 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Access to Medical Treatment Act - Authorizes a patient to receive, and a health care practitioner (practitioner) to provide or administer, any unapproved drug or medical device (UDMD) that the patient desires or the patient's legal representative authorizes if: (1) the UDMD is recommended by a practitioner within his or her scope of practice; (2) the provision or administration of the UDMD is not a violation of applicable State law; and (3) the practitioner abides by the requirements of this Act. Includes among such requirements that the practitioner: (1) does not violate the Controlled Substances Act; (2) has concluded that the UDMD will not cause a danger to the patient; (3) gives the patient sufficient opportunity to decide whether or not to receive such UDMD; (4) discloses any financial interest the practitioner may have in the UDMD; and (5) has informed the patient that the UDMD is not approved, of its risks and benefits, of alternative procedures, as well as certain related information designed to achieve informed patient consent of its use. Requires UDMD manufacturers to disclose to practitioners receiving the UDMD all appropriate information to enable the practitioner to comply with such requirements. Provides an exception for a practitioner's dissemination of information concerning the results of administration of a UDMD. Requires a practitioner who discovers that a UDMD causes a danger to a patient to immediately cease its use and recommendation, and to provide to its manufacturer and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a report containing all relevant information concerning such discovery. Requires a manufacturer receiving such a report to immediately cease sale and distribution of such UDMD, notify all appropriate practitioners, and report such results to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Requires the CDC Director to: (1) upon receipt of a manufacturer's report, conduct an investigation of the UDMD to determine the actual cause of the danger; and (2) report such determination to the Secretary. Requires the Secretary, after such report, to: (1) direct a manufacturer to cease manufacture, sale, and distribution of a UDMD when it is determined to be the cause of the danger, and notify appropriate practitioners of such determination; (2) direct the manufacturer to inform appropriate practitioners when the UDMD is determined not to be the cause of the danger; and (3) direct the manufacturer to inform appropriate practitioners when the cause of the danger cannot be determined. Requires the Secretary to promptly disseminate information concerning the danger of a UDMD to all U.S. health care practitioners, the Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (National Center Director), and State agencies responsible for regulating unsafe or adulterated drugs and medical devices. Requires a practitioner to report to the manufacturer of a UDMD that produces beneficial results. Requires such manufacturer to relay such report to the National Center Director. Requires the National Center Director to review and analyze such information and make available on the Internet and to the public a review and analysis of such information, including a statement that such drug or medical device is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Authorizes practitioners to introduce UDMDs into commerce to the extent necessary to comply with requirements of this Act. Denies coverage under this Act for practitioners and manufacturers found to have violated its requirements.
Bill· SS. 1956 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Veterans Health Care Quality Assurance Act of 1999 - Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should: (1) require the directors of the Department of Veterans Affairs health care networks to systematically share information on maximizing resources and increasing efficiency without compromising quality of care and patient satisfaction; (2) require exchange and mentoring programs to facilitate such sharing; (3) provide incentives to increase efficiency and meet quality and patient satisfaction goals; and (4) institute a formal oversight process to meet such goals. Requires the Department's Inspector General, at least every three years, to audit the quality of health care furnished by each Department health care network and facility. Directs the Secretary to provide for the dissemination and sharing with Department health care networks of information designed to ensure efficiency in the provision of health care to veterans. Requires the Secretary to: (1) annually issue efficiency goals and quality and patient satisfaction standards for each Department health care facility; and (2) report annually to Congress on the extent to which the Department met such goals and standards. Establishes within the Department the Office of Health Care Quality Assurance, headed by a Director, to ensure the establishment and implementation of efficiency goals and quality and patient satisfaction standards throughout the Department. Expresses the sense of Congress that such Director should act as an advocate for veterans in receiving quality health care. Requires a report from the Secretary to Congress on efficiencies in the furnishing of health care to veterans in Department health care networks and facilities.
Bill· HRH.R. 3471 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to public and nonprofit private entities to establish or operate demonstration projects for increasing the supply of organs donated for human transplantation. Requires certain professional consultation. Allows such projects to establish appropriate financial incentives for organ donation, including the payment of travel and subsistence expenses incurred by individuals making living donations. Requires such incentives to include one or more projects to provide payments for the purchase of life insurance policies or annuities, payable to a donor's designee. Requires the Secretary to evaluate the effectiveness of such demonstration projects, and to report to Congress on project activities, evaluation results, and recommendations. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2004. Limits evaluation costs to five percent of authorized funds.
Bill· HRH.R. 3455 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Give a Kid a Chance Omnibus Mental Health Services Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to support, either directly or through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with public entities, programs to promote mental health among all children and their families and to provide early intervention services to ameliorate identified mental health problems in children and adolescents. Requires an equitable distribution of grant funds, including Native American communities. Outlines program priorities. Requires non-Federal matching funds of $2 for every $3 of Federal funding. Limits grant duration to five years. Requires the Secretary to ensure that entities receiving funds carry out a project evaluation which includes the effectiveness of program strategies in strengthening families with young children. Requires local educational agencies receiving such grants to ensure that schools receiving such funds maintain a certain ratio of students per counselor, nurse, psychologist, and social worker. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2002.
Bill· HRH.R. 3461 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct an additional site inspection for each applicable items or services provider that applies for a provider number. Requires the Secretary, in conducting the inspection, to ensure that the site is in full compliance with all the conditions and standards of participation and requirements for obtaining Medicare billing privileges. Requires the Secretary to conduct the site inspection for an applicable provider before the issuance of a provider number. (Sec. 2) Sets forth rules for the Secretary to conduct a background check on any individual or entity that applies for a Medicare provider number, allowing the Secretary to refuse to issue such number if the Secretary determines, after the background check, that such individual or entity has a history of acts that indicate issuance would be detrimental to the best interests of Medicare or Medicare beneficiaries. Requires reporting of such a refusal to the health integrity protection database (HIPDB) in accordance with the procedures for reporting final adverse actions taken against a health care provider, supplier, or practitioner. (Sec. 3) Directs the Secretary to establish procedures for the registration of all applicant billing agencies. Requires the Secretary to assign a unique identification number to each registered agency, which must appear on every claim for Medicare reimbursement. (Sec. 3) Amends SSA title XI to allow the Secretary to exclude from participation in any Federal health care program any billing agency that knowingly submitted or caused to be submitted a claim for Medicare reimbursement that it knows or should know is false or fraudulent. (Sec. 4) Provides for expanded access to the HIPDB. Prescribes a criminal penalty for misuse of HIPDB information. (Sec. 5) Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to agreements under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) with a public agency or private organization that facilitates payment to service providers. Requires such agreements to require that the agency or organization reimburse the Secretary for any amounts it has paid for a Medicare service furnished by an individual or entity during any period for which the individual or entity is excluded from participation in the Medicare health care program, if the amounts are paid after a 60-day period following the notice of exclusion, unless the payment was made as a result of incorrect information provided by the Secretary, or the individual or entity excluded from participation has concealed or altered its identity. Applies the same reimbursement requirement to contracts with a carrier with respect to payments to an excluded individual or entity for an item or service under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance). (Sec. 6) Revises the definition of community mental health centers with respect to partial hospitalization services, excluding from coverage for ambulatory treatment services any services in an individual's home or in an inpatient or residential setting. (Sec. 7) Amends SSA titles XI and XVIII to deny a discharge in bankruptcy to: (1) civil monetary penalties for fraudulent activities by a health care provider or supplier; (2) overpayments to service providers under Medicare part A and of benefits under Medicare part B; and (3) past-due obligations arising from breach of scholarship and loan contract. (Sec. 8) Amends SSA title XI to prescribe a criminal penalty for illegal distribution of a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary identification or provider number. (Sec. 9) Amends the Federal criminal code to provide for the treatment of acts involving Federal health care programs described under SSA title XI as Federal health care offenses. (Sec. 10) Authorizes any criminal investigator of the Office of Inspector General of HHS, upon proper designation, to: (1) obtain and execute any warrant or other process issued under the authority of the United States; (2) make an arrest without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the presence of such investigator, or any Federal felony if such investigator has reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing that felony; and (3) exercise any other authority necessary to carry out such authority. Authorizes the HHS Office of Inspector General to receive and to expend certain funds that represent the equitable share from the forfeiture of property in investigations in which the Office participated. (Sec. 11) Requires all claims forms developed or used by the Secretary for reimbursement under Medicare to accommodate the use of universal product numbers (UPNs) for a UPN covered item, and all claims for such an item to contain the UPN. Requires the Secretary to study and report to Congress on implementation of this requirement. Amends SSA title XVIII to set forth rules governing use of UPNs. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 3506 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Amends the Service Contract Act of 1965 to require to be included within service contract labor standards a provision specifying that if the contract or applicable collective bargaining agreement required that the contractor provide health care to contractor employees performing work under the contract and the employees retired before the contract was terminated, the parent corporation shall be responsible for the provision of such health care coverage to such retired employees if the contractor fails to do so.
Law· HRH.R. 3443 (106th)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 - Title I: Improved Independent Living Program - Subtitle A: Improved Independent Living Program - Amends title IV part E (Foster Care and Adoption Assistance) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to revise the program of grants to States for independent living programs providing education, training, employment services, and financial support for individuals between ages 16 and 18 leaving foster care for independent living. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop outcome measures to assess State performance in operating such programs; (2) identify data elements needed to track such performance, services, and the individuals served; and (3) develop and implement a plan to collect such data. (Sec. 101) Authorizes appropriations. Expresses the sense of Congress that States should provide medical assistance under the State plan approved under (SSA) title XIX (Medicaid) to 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds who have been emancipated from foster care. Subtitle B: Related Foster Care Provision - Increases the amount of assets allowable for children in foster care. (Sec. 112) Mandates that State plans for foster care and adoption assistance include a certification that before foster care placement the prospective parents will be adequately prepared to provide for the needs of the child, and that such preparation will continue, as necessary, after placement of the child. Subtitle C: Medicaid Amendments - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to authorize a State to limit the eligibility of independent foster care adolescents to individuals for whom foster care maintenance payments or independent living services were furnished under the Improved Independent Living Program. (Sec. 121) Sets forth contingency provisions for coordination of this Act with the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. Subtitle D: Adoption Incentive Payments - Instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make supplemental grants to adoption incentive-eligible States. Increases the appropriations authorized for FY 1999 through 2003. Title II: SSI Fraud Prevention - Subtitle A: Fraud Prevention and Related Provisions - Amends SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) and title XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) to subject a representative payee to liability for overpayments made after the death of the individual on whose behalf the payments were made. Instructs the Commissioner of Social Security (the Commissioner) to establish an overpayment control record under the social security account number of the representative payee. (Sec. 202) Provides for recovery of overpayments of SSI benefits from lump sum SSI benefit payments. (Sec. 203) Authorizes the Commissioner to employ certain statutory debt collection practices to collect delinquent accounts. (Sec. 204) Requires (currently, merely authorizes) States to provide State prisoner information to Federal and federally assisted benefit programs. (Sec. 205) Sets forth a statutory mechanism for the treatment of assets held in trust for an individual in connection with eligibility for SSI benefits. (Sec. 206) Revamps guidelines governing eligibility criteria in connection with disposal of resources for less than fair market value under the SSI program. (Sec. 207) Prescribes administrative procedures for: (1) imposing penalties for false or misleading statements; and (2) excluding representatives and health care providers convicted of violations from participation in social security programs. (Sec. 210) Directs the Commissioner to: (1) study and report to certain congressional committees on possible measures to improve fraud prevention and administrative processing; (2) include in the annual budget an itemization of the amount of funds required to support efforts to combat fraud committed by applicants and beneficiaries; and (3) conduct periodic computer matches with Medicare and Medicaid institutionalization data. (Sec. 213) Authorizes the Commissioner to require applicants or beneficiaries to authorize access to information held by their financial institutions in order to ascertain benefits eligibility. Subtitle B: Benefits for Certain World War II Veterans - Amends the Social Security Act to add a new title VIII (Special Benefits for Certain World War II Veterans) to provide monthly benefits for each month certain qualified World War II veterans reside outside the United States. Delineates procedural guidelines. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Study - Directs the Commissioner to: (1) study and report to certain congressional committees on the reasons why family farmers with resources of less than $100,000 are denied SSI benefits, including whether the deeming process unduly burdens and discriminates against family farmers who do not institutionalize a disabled dependent; and (2) determine the number of such farmers who have been denied such benefits during each of the preceding ten years. Title III: Child Support - Cites circumstances under which the State share of distribution of collected child support shall be increased by statutory formula. Repeals the current statutory formula. Title IV: Technical Corrections - Sets forth technical corrections relating to amendments made by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.
Bill· HRH.R. 3482 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
New Insurance Coverage Equity (NICE) Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new part D (NICE Drug Benefit Program) (NICE program) (redesigning the current Medicare part D (Miscellaneous Provisions) as Medicare part E (Miscellaneous Provisions) to establish a voluntary NICE program, administered by the NICE Board which also operates a New Insurance Coverage Equity Office established within the Department of Health and Human Services, under which all individuals entitled to Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) benefits and enrolled in Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) shall be provided access to coverage of outpatient prescription drugs that meet specified requirements. Grants such access via either enrollment in a Medicare+Choice (Medicare part C) plan, enrollment in a NICE Medicare supplemental policy, or enrollment in a group health plan, all as defined by this Act. Provides for described financial assistance for covered beneficiaries for them to obtain enrollment coverage, with such assistance varying depending upon beneficiary income. Vests the Board with outreach and other specified duties, such as establishing procedures for enrollment and enhanced financial assistance with regard to eligible Medicare beneficiaries and the NICE program, and conducting certain ongoing studies, as well as a study and report to Congress on permitting an alternative outpatient prescription drug benefit package under Medicare supplemental health insurance policies (Medigap) provisions. Outlines requirements for the offering of NICE program coverage, which include prohibiting pre-existing condition exclusions with respect to coverage and allowing use of reasonable cost containment methods. Establishes in the Treasury the NICE Trust Fund, consisting in part of amounts from the on-budget surplus, to be available only for expenditures to carry out the NICE program. Makes appropriations and authorizes appropriations. Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 to include with Medigap policy comparison information for Medigap policies, information on the NICE program for purposes of State grant application plans for State-wide health insurance, counseling, and assistance grants.
Bill· HRH.R. 3486 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Addresses certain regulations of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) changing HCFA policy under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act regarding the use of a bundled rate to pay for medical services provided by local educational agencies to Medicaid-eligible children with individualized education programs. Provides that any State with a rate methodology and documentation system previously approved by HCFA for such services shall be deemed in compliance with such regulations with respect to rate, payment, and reconciliation procedures, if such system: (1) includes case rates based on retrospective analysis of actual costs, adjusted every three years, and the type, amount, duration, and scope of Medicaid-eligible services actually provided to each eligible child on a periodic basis; (2) includes documentation of the type, amount, duration, and scope of Medicaid-eligible services provided to each such child on a periodic basis, and documented in the care instruction in each individualized education program; and (3) permits reconciliation using such documentation.
Bill· HRH.R. 3480 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Medicaid and SCHIP Presumptive Eligibility Expansion Act of 1999 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to provide for additional entities qualified to determine Medicaid presumptive eligibility for low-income children. Amends SSA title XIX (Children's Health Insurance) (CHIP) to allow a State to elect to apply under CHIP the Medicaid requirements for entities qualified to determine presumptive eligibility. Waives the State matching requirement for outreach services if the State elects to use presumptive eligibility for both Medicaid and CHIP. Provides for the treatment of enrollment incentives.
Resolution· HRESH.Res. 387 (106th)passed
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Waives points of order against the consideration of the conference report on H.R. 1180 (health care coverage and meaningful work opportunities for working individuals with disabilities).
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 236 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 18 November 1999
Makes corrections in the enrollment of H.R. 1180 (health care coverage and meaningful work opportunities for working individuals with disabilities).
Bill· SS. 1942 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Pharmaceutical Aid to Older Americans Act - Amends the Older Americans Act of 1965 to authorize the Assistant Secretary for Aging within the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to States to provide and administer State pharmacy assistance programs (programs that provide coverage for prescription drugs for poor older Americans who are not eligible for medical assistance under either Medicaid (title XIX of the Social Security Act) or under any other pharmacy assistance program). Provides a grant priority for programs that provide services for underserved populations or populations residing in rural areas. Requires at least $250,000 to be awarded to each eligible grant State and limits grant periods to two years. Requires at least 30 percent non-Federal matching funds. Authorizes the Assistant Secretary to award grants to State agencies to assist such agencies or area agencies in providing and administering medication management programs ( pharmacy counseling, medicine screening, or patient or health care provider education programs for older individuals). Requires at least $50,000 to be awarded to each eligible grant State and limits grant periods to two years. Requires at least 30 percent non-Federal matching funds. Requires each State to prepare and submit to the Assistant Secretary an evaluation of the effectiveness of its pharmacy assistance programs and its medication management programs. Requires follow-up reports from the Assistant Secretary to Congress. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.
Bill· HRH.R. 3433 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to make grants to public or nonprofit private entities for the development and operation of not more than eight centers for the conduct of multidisciplinary research on environmental factors that may be related to the etiology of breast cancer. Requires each center to: (1) conduct basic and clinical research; (2) develop protocols for training health professionals; (3) conduct training programs for such individuals; (4) develop model continuing education programs for such professionals; and (5) disseminate information to such professionals and the public. Authorizes a center to provide stipends for professionals enrolled in the program. Allows grant support for a center for up to five years, with authorized extensions. Requires an equitable geographic distribution of such centers. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2005.
Bill· HRH.R. 3430 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Youth Drinking Elimination Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to enable public and nonprofit private entities, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations to develop plans for and to carry out school (including college) and community based programs for the prevention of alcoholic beverage consumption by persons who have not attained the legal drinking age. Requires a prospective grantee to provide assurances that it will: (1) use science based and age appropriate approaches; and (2) involve local public health officials and community prevention program staff in the planning and implementation of the program. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 3420 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Telehealth Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with regard to telehealth services to: (1) extend Medicare reimbursement for such services to all Medicare services furnished in all rural areas, including those by physical, occupational, and speech therapists; (2) revise related payment methodology; and (3) add additional congressional reporting requirements pertaining to the telehealth services program. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Office of Advancement of Telehealth, to make grants to eligible recipients for the purpose of expanding access to health care services for individuals in rural areas, frontier areas, and medically underserved areas through the use of telehealth. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Joint Working Group on Telemedicine to ensure that individuals representing the interests of rural areas and medically underserved areas are members of the Group. Establishes the mission of the Joint Working Group, among other things, as identifying, monitoring, and coordinating Federal telehealth projects and programs. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 3441 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require that the provision of physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology services, and respiratory therapy by a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility (CORF) under Medicare be at a single, fixed location.
Bill· HRH.R. 3421 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Department of Justice Title II: Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Title III: The Judiciary Title IV: Department of State and Related Agency Title V: Related Agencies Title VI: General Provisions Title VII: Rescissions Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the judiciary, and related agencies. Title I: Department of Justice - Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Justice for: (1) general administration; (2) a Joint Automated Booking System; (3) conversion to narrowband communications; (4) counterterrorism activities; (5) payments of costs of telecommunications carriers in complying with capability requirements; (6) administration of pardon and clemency petitions and immigration-related activities; (7) the Office of Inspector General; (8) the U.S. Parole Commission; (9) legal activities; (10) antitrust activities; (11) the Offices of U.S. Attorneys; (12) the U.S. Trustee Program; (13) the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission; (14) the U.S. Marshals Service, including an amount for Federal prisoner detention; (15) fees and expenses of witnesses; (16) the Community Relations Service; (17) certain uses of the Assets Forfeiture Fund; (18) administrative expenses related to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act; (19) the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund; (20) interagency law enforcement with respect to organized crime drug trafficking; (21) the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (22) construction for specified agencies; (23) the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); (24) the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); (25) the Federal prison system, including an amount for buildings and facilities; (26) the Office of Justice programs; (27) State and local law enforcement assistance; (28) the Executive Office for Weed and Seed; (29) community oriented policing services; (30) juvenile justice programs; and (31) public safety officers' benefits. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. (Sec. 103) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this title to: (1) pay for abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or in the case of rape; or (2) require any person to perform or facilitate an abortion. (Sec. 109) Makes certain provisions of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 relating to the obligation of certain counterterrorism funds without regard to Federal acquisition rules and restriction on information disclosure in specified actions filed by prisoners applicable to FY 2000 and thereafter. (Sec. 112) Makes a provision of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 relating to grants for assistance to the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 applicable for FY 2000. (Sec. 113) Amends the Federal judicial code to increase certain bankruptcy filing fees and the percentage of such fees to be deposited into the U.S. Trustee System Fund and a fund for operation and maintenance of the U.S. courts. (Sec. 115) Prohibits the use of funds made available by any Act to pay premium pay to any Department of Justice attorney. (Sec. 117) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to direct the Attorney General to grant a national interest waiver of a requirement that certain professional aliens' services be sought by U.S. employers before a visa is offered on behalf of any alien physician with respect to whom a petition for preference classification has been filed if: (1) such physician agrees to work in an area designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as having a shortage of health care professionals or at a health care facility under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and (2) a Federal agency or State department of public health has previously determined the physician's work in such an area or at such facility was in the public interest. Bars the issuance of a permanent resident visa to such an alien and adjustment of status to permanent resident alien until the alien has worked full time as a physician for an aggregate of five years in the health care shortage areas described in this section. Reduces such work requirement to three years for physicians for whom waivers were filed prior to November 1, 1998. (Sec. 118) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make permanent the land border inspection fee program. (Currently, such program expires on September 30, 2000.) (Sec. 119) Amends the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 to make funds available from the Crime Victims Fund for the U.S. Attorneys Offices to improve services for the benefit of crime victims in the Federal criminal justice system. (Sec. 120) Amends the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to authorize the FBI Director to establish an index of analyses of DNA samples voluntarily contributed from relatives of missing persons. Title II: Department of Commerce and Related Agencies - Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for the Department of Commerce for: (1) the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; (2) the International Trade Commission; (3) the International Trade Administration; (4) export administration and national security activities; (5) the Economic Development Administration; (6) minority business development; (7) economic and statistical analysis programs; (8) the Census Bureau; (9) the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; (10) public telecommunications facilities planning and construction grants; (11) information infrastructure grants; (12) the Patent and Trademark Office; (13) the Under Secretary for Technology-Office of Technology Policy; (14) the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including amounts for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Advanced Technology Program and for construction of new research facilities; (15) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including amounts for procurement, acquisition, and construction of capital assets; (16) restoration of Pacific salmon populations; (17) the Coastal Zone Management Fund; (18) the Fishermen's Contingency Fund; (19) the Foreign Fishing Observer Fund; (20) the fisheries finance program account; (21) general administration; and (22) the Office of Inspector General. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. Rescinds all unobligated balances in the Fisheries Promotional Fund. (Sec. 210) Amends the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to increase the number of members of the New England Fishery Management Council. Title III: The Judiciary - Judiciary Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for: (1) the Supreme Court, including an amount for care of the building and grounds; (2) the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; (3) the U.S. Court of International Trade; (4) the courts of appeals, district courts, and other judicial services; (5) defender services; (6) fees of jurors and commissioners; (7) court security; (8) the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; (9) the Federal Judicial Center; (10) judicial retirement funds; and (11) the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. (Sec. 307) Approves the consolidation of the Office of the Bankruptcy Clerk with the Office of the District Clerk of Court in the Southern District of West Virginia. (Sec. 308) Amends provisions of the Federal criminal code regarding adequate representation of defendants to prohibit the amount of fees paid for legal services from being used as a reason to justify limited public disclosure of such amount in cases where limited disclosure is authorized to protect the defendant's interest. Applies such requirement to all disclosures related to any criminal trial or appeal involving a death sentence where the underlying alleged criminal conduct took place on or after April 19, 1995. (Sec. 309) Requires the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint three additional district judges for the district of Arizona, four additional district judges for the middle district of Florida, and two additional district judges for the district of Nevada. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Department of State and Related Agency - Department of State and Related Agency Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for the Department of State for: (1) administration of foreign affairs, diplomatic and consular programs; (2) the Capital Investment Fund; (3) the Office of Inspector General; (4) educational and cultural exchange programs; (5) representation allowances; (6) protection of foreign missions and officials; (7) security and maintenance of U.S. missions; (8) emergencies in the diplomatic and consular service; (9) the repatriation loans program account; (10) the American Institute in Taiwan; (11) the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability Fund; (12) international organizations, conferences, peacekeeping, and commissions, including an amount to reduce amounts owed by the United States to the United Nations; (13) the Asia Foundation; (14) the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, Incorporated; (15) the Israeli Arab Scholarship Program; (16) the East-West Center; (17) the North-South Center; and (18) the National Endowment for Democracy. Makes appropriations for the Broadcasting Board of Governors for international broadcasting operations, broadcasting to Cuba, and capital improvements. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on funds appropriated under this title. (Sec. 404) Makes a certain provision of the Department of State and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 regarding a fee for the issuance of combined border crossing cards and nonimmigrant visas effective in FY 2000 and thereafter. (Sec. 405) Bars the use of funds made available in this Act by the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors to provide assistance to the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. (Sec. 406) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for the United Nations from being used by the United Nations for the enforcement of any treaty, resolution, or regulation authorizing the United Nations to tax any aspect of the Internet. Title V: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for the: (1) Maritime Administration for maritime security, operations and training, and the maritime guaranteed loan program; (2) Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad; (3) Commission on Civil Rights; (4) Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce; (5) Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; (6) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); (7) Federal Communications Commission; (8) Federal Maritime Commission; (9) Federal Trade Commission; (10) Legal Services Corporation; (11) Marine Mammal Commission; (12) Securities and Exchange Commission; (13) Small Business Administration, including amounts for the Office of Inspector General and business and disaster loans; and (14) State Justice Institute. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, such funds. Title VI: General Provisions - Sets forth limitations on the use of funds under this Act. (Sec. 607) Sets forth Buy American provisions. (Sec. 608) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act to: (1) enforce any EEOC guidelines covering harassment based on religion if such guidelines do not differ from proposed guidelines of October 1, 1993; (2) pay for costs incurred in operating certain diplomatic or consular posts in Vietnam or increasing the number of personnel assigned to such posts until the President makes a specified certification; or (3) provide specified personal comforts in the Federal prison system. (Sec. 609) Prohibits the use of funds made available by this Act for any United Nations undertaking if: (1) such undertaking is a peacekeeping mission and will involve U.S. armed forces under the control of a foreign national; and (2) the President's military advisors have not submitted a recommendation that such involvement is in the national security interest and the President has not submitted such recommendation to Congress. (Sec. 617) Makes funds provided by this Act unavailable to promote the sale or export of tobacco or tobacco products or to seek the reduction or removal by any foreign country of restrictions on the marketing of such products, except for restrictions which are not applied equally to products of the same type. (Sec. 618) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act to issue visas to certain individuals from Haiti, including those involved in specified extrajudicial and political killings. (Sec. 619) Bars funds appropriated under any law from being used for: (1) the implementation of any tax or fee in connection with any criminal background check system that implements requirements under the Federal criminal code in connection with certain restrictions on the transfer of firearms; and (2) any such system that does not result in the destruction of information submitted by persons determined not to be prohibited from owning a firearm. (Sec. 621) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this Act to propose or issue rules or orders for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. (Sec. 622) Makes an additional amount available for SBA salaries and expenses and earmarks such amount for specified uses. (Sec. 623) Establishes a Northern Boundary and Transboundary Rivers Restoration and Enhancement Fund and a Southern Boundary Restoration and Enhancement Fund to be held by the Pacific Salmon Commission and available for activities relating to salmon restoration, enhancement, and research, conservation of salmon habitat, and implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty and related agreements. Makes funds under this section unavailable until certain conditions to the 1999 Agreement of the United States and Canada on the Treaty Between the Government of the United States and the Government of Canada Concerning Pacific Salmon, 1985 have been fulfilled. Requires the Secretary of Commerce, during the term of the 1999 Agreement, to determine whether Southern U.S. fisheries (directed Pacific salmon fisheries in Washington, Oregon, and the Snake River basin of Idaho) are likely to cause jeopardy to, or adversely modify designated critical habitat of, any salmonid species listed under the Endangered Species Act before the Secretary may initiate or reinitiate consultation on Alaska fisheries under such Act. Prohibits the Secretary, during the term of the Agreement, from initiating or reinitiating such consultation on Alaska fisheries until: (1) the Pacific Salmon Commission has had a reasonable opportunity to implement the provisions of the Agreement; and (2) he determines that implementation actions under the Agreement will not return escapements as expeditiously as possible to maximum sustainable yield or other biologically-based objectives agreed to by the Commission. Requires the Secretary to notify specified congressional committees of intent to initiate or reinitiate such consultation. Authorizes appropriations for: (1) the capitalization of the Funds; and (2) salmon habitat restoration, stock enhancement, and research, and implementation of the Pacific Salmon Treaty and related agreements. (Sec. 627) Bars the use of funds appropriated in this Act for purposes of granting immigrant or nonimmigrant visas to citizens or residents of countries that the Attorney General has determined deny or unreasonably delay accepting the return of certain deportable aliens. (Sec. 628) Prohibits the use of funds made available to the Department of Justice in this Act for transporting any maximum or high security prisoner to any prison other than one certified by the Federal Bureau of Prisons as appropriately secure. (Sec. 629) Bars the use of funds made available by this Act for participation by U.S. delegates to the Standing Consultative Commission unless the President certifies to the Appropriations Committees that the U.S. Government is not implementing the Memorandum of Understanding Relating to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems of May 26, 1972, entered into on September 26, 1997, by the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine, or until the Senate provides its advice and consent to the Memorandum. Title VII: Rescissions - Reduces amounts available for the DEA Drug Diversion Control Fee Account. Rescinds a specified amount appropriated to the INS Immigration Emergency Fund. Rescinds a specified amount for the Department of State for international broadcasting operations of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rescinds a specified amount of funds for the SBA's business loans program account.
Bill· HRH.R. 3426 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 - Title I: Provisions Relating to Part A - Subtitle A: Adjustments to PPS Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities - Provides that, for computing payments for covered skilled nursing facility (SNF) services furnished under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) on or after April 1, 2000, and before a described date, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall increase by 20 percent the adjusted Federal per diem rate otherwise determined for covered SNF services for certain RUG-III groups furnished to an individual during the period in which such individual is classified in such an RUG-III category. (Sec. 101) Provides that for purposes of computing Medicare payments for covered SNF services furnished during FY 2001 and 2002, the Secretary shall increase by four percent for each such fiscal year the adjusted Federal per diem rate. Prohibits the Secretary from including such additional payment in updating the Federal per diem rate. (Sec. 102) Permits a SNF to elect to have the amount of the payment for all costs of covered SNF services for each day of such services furnished in cost reporting periods beginning no earlier than 30 days before the date of such election. (Sec. 103) Amends title XVIII to exclude the following items and services from the definition of covered SNF services: (1) ambulance services furnished to an individual in conjunction with renal dialysis services; (2) chemotherapy items identified by the Secretary; (3) chemotherapy administration services; (4) radioisotope services; and (5) customized prosthetic devices. Directs the Secretary to provide for an appropriate proportional reduction in payments so that beginning with FY 2001, the aggregate amount of such reductions is equal to the aggregate increase in payments. (Sec. 104) Amends title XVIII to revise provisions on determination of facility specific per diem rates under the prospective payment system (PPS) for SNFs, including adding a specified payment rule for certain facilities. (Sec. 105) Directs the Secretary to assess the resource use of patients of SNFs furnishing services under Medicare who are immuno-compromised secondary to an infectious disease, with specific diagnoses as specified by the Secretary to determine whether any permanent adjustments are needed to the RUGs to take into account the resource uses and costs of these patients. (Sec. 106) Directs the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MEDPac) to study and report to Congress on SNFs furnishing covered services to determine the need for an additional Medicare payment amount to take into account the unique circumstances of SNFs in Alaska and Hawaii. (Sec. 107) Directs the Secretary to conduct a study that: (1) identifies variations in State licensure and certification standards for health care providers (including nursing and allied health professionals) and other individuals providing respiratory therapy in SNFs; (2) examines State requirements relating to respiratory therapy competency examinations for such providers and individuals; and (3) determines whether regular respiratory therapy competency examinations or certifications should be required under Medicare for such providers and individuals. Subtitle B: PPS Hospitals - Amends title XVIII to: (1) modify the formula for the Secretary to provide for an additional payment amount for a disproportionate share hospital (DSH) with indirect costs of medical education; and (2) direct the Secretary to make one or more payments to DSH hospitals which receive payment for the direct costs of medical education for discharges occurring in FY 2000, in an amount according to a specified formula. (Sec. 112) Decreases reductions in additional payments for DSH and certain other hospitals for FY 2001 and 2002. Directs the Secretary to require DSH hospitals to submit to the Secretary in their discharge cost reports for a fiscal year data on the costs incurred by the hospital for providing inpatient and outpatient hospital services for which the hospital is not compensated, including non-Medicare bad debt, charity care, and charges for Medicaid (SSA title XIX) and indigent care. Subtitle C: PPS-Exempt Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII to revise provisions on payment to hospitals for inpatient hospital services with respect to the following: (1) a hospital or unit that is within a class of hospital and estimates concerning the target amounts for such hospitals within such class to require the Secretary to provide for an appropriate wage adjustment; (2) determination of the increase in the amount of payment on a per discharge basis for an eligible hospital to alter such determination for psychiatric and long-term care hospitals for specified cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2000; and (3) PPS for inpatient rehabilitation services. (Sec. 123) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop a per discharge PPS for payment for inpatient hospital services of long-term care hospitals; (2) develop a per diem PPS for payment for inpatient hospital services of psychiatric hospitals and units; and (3) study and report to Congress on the impact on utilization and beneficiary access to services of the implementation of the PPS for inpatient hospital services or a rehabilitation hospital or unit. Subtitle D: Hospice Care - Directs the Secretary to increase the payment rate in effect for hospice care for FY 2001 and 2002. Prohibits the Secretary from using such temporary payment increase when updating the payment rate. (Sec. 132) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on updating the payment rates and the cap for routine home care and other services included in hospice care. Subtitle E: Other Provisions - Directs MEDPac to study and report to Congress on Medicare policy with respect to professional clinical training of different classes of nonphysician health care professionals and the basis for any differences in treatment among such classes. Subtitle F: Transitional Provisions - Outlines various transitional provisions applicable to specified geographic areas of the United States and certain health care entities pertaining to: (1) an exception to the Medicare hospital payment case mix index qualifier criteria for classification as a rural referral center; (2) reclassification of certain counties and areas for purposes of Medicare reimbursement; (3) wage index correction; (4) calculation and application of wage index floor; and (5) a special rule for certain SNFs. Title II: Provisions Relating to Part B - Subtitle A: Hospital Outpatient Services - Revises Medicare requirements for payments to hospitals for inpatient hospital services, among other changes, modifying the following: (1) the PPS for hospital outpatient department (OPD) services with respect to outlier adjustment, transitional pass-through for additional costs of innovative medical devices, transitional adjustment to limit decline, drugs, and biologicals, transitional adjustment to limit decline in payment, the inclusion of certain implantable items under the PPS, and a limitation on outpatient hospital copayment for a procedure to the hospital deductible amount; and (2) amendments by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA '97) to provide for an extension of reductions in payments for costs of hospital outpatient services under Medicare. (Sec. 201) Provides that with respect to determining the total amounts of copayments estimated to be paid to hospitals by Medicare beneficiaries under the PPS for covered OPD services in 1999, as though the deductible did not apply, Congress finds: (1) that such amount should be determined in a budget neutral manner with respect to aggregate payments to hospitals; and (2) that the Secretary has the authority to determine such amount. Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the extent to which intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) could be delivered and reimbursed under the Medicare program outside of a hospital or a physician's office. (Sec. 203) Directs MedPAC to study and report to Congress on the appropriateness of providing payments to specified rural and cancer hospitals for covered OPD services based on the PPS established by the Secretary. Subtitle B: Physician Services - Revises update adjustment factor requirements to reduce update oscillations and mandate estimate revisions for payments for physicians' services. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, to study and report to Congress on specified issues, which include the various methods for accurately estimating the economic impact on expenditures for physicians' services under the original fee-for-service program under Medicare parts A (Hospital Insurance) and B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) resulting from improvements in medical capabilities as well as certain other technological advancements, and demographic and geographic changes. (Sec. 212) Directs the Secretary to establish by regulation a process (including data collection standards) under which the Secretary will accept for use and will use data collected or developed by non-HHS entities and organizations to supplement the data normally collected by HHS in determining the practice expense component for determining relative values for payment for physicians' services under the Medicare fee schedule. (Sec. 213) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the physician and non-physician clinical resources necessary to provide safe outpatient cancer therapy services and the appropriate payment rates for them under Medicare. Subtitle C: Other Services - Revises requirements for payment of benefits certain physical and occupational therapy services under Medicare part B to exempt expenses considered as incurred by an individual from the cap on such expenses for calendar years 2000 and 2001. (Sec. 221) Directs the Secretary to conduct focused medical reviews of claims for certain services provided to residents of SNFs. Directs the Secretary to study and to report to Congress on utilization policies for outpatient physical and occupational therapy services. (Sec. 222) Amends SSA title XVIII to direct the Secretary to increase the amount of each composite rate payment for dialysis services: (1) furnished during 2000 by 1.2 percent above such composite rate payment amounts for such services furnished on December 31, 1999; and (2) for such services furnished on or after January 2001, by 1.2 percent above such composite rate payment amounts for such services furnished on December 31, 2000. Requires MEDPac to study and report to Congress on the appropriateness of the differential in payment under Medicare for hemodialysis services furnished in a facility and for such services furnished in a home. (Sec. 223) Prohibits the Secretary from using, or permitting fiscal intermediaries or carriers to use, certain inherent reasonableness authority with respect to use of carriers for administration of benefits until after: (1) the Comptroller General releases a specified report on the impact of the Secretary's, fiscal intermediaries', and carriers' use of such authority; and (2) the Secretary has published in the Federal register a notice of final rulemaking relating to such authority in response to such report. (Sec. 224) Amends SSA title XVIII to direct the Secretary to establish a national minimum payment amount of $14.60, adjusted annually, for a diagnostic or screening pap smear laboratory test. Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has been slow to incorporate or provide incentives for providers to use new screening diagnostic health care technologies in the area of cervical cancer; (2) some new technologies have been developed which optimize the effectiveness of pap smear screening; and (3) HCFA should institute an appropriate increase in the payment rate for such technologies that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and that are significantly more effective than a conventional pap smear. (Sec. 225) Amends BBA '97 to with respect to demonstration of Medicare coverage of ambulance services through contracts with units of local government, revising the definition of capitated payment rate. (Sec. 226) Provides for the phase-in of a PPS for ambulatory surgical centers. (Sec. 227) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the extension of immunosuppressive drug coverage for individuals who would otherwise exhaust their Medicare benefits for prescription drugs used in immunosuppressive therapy. Provides that national coverage determinations under Medicare part C (Medicare+Choice) benefits and beneficiary protections provisions shall apply with respect to the coverage of additional benefits for immunosuppressive drugs for drugs furnished in 2000 in the same manner as if the amendments of this Act constituted a national coverage determination. (Sec. 228) Directs the Secretary to increase the payment amount for durable medical equipment and medical supplies (including oxygen) for 2001 and 2002. (Sec. 229) Directs MEDPac to study and report to Congress on: (1) post-surgical recovery care center services; and (2) regulatory burdens placed on all classes of health care providers under Medicare parts A and B, and on the costs these burdens impose on the nation's health care system. Requires the Administrator for Health Care Policy and Research to provide for a study and report to Congress on the effect of credentialing of technologists and sonographers on the quality of ultrasound under Medicare and Medicaid. Direct the Comptroller General to continue monitoring Department of Justice compliance with certain guidelines on the use of the False Claims Act in civil health care matters for reports to Congress. Title III: Provisions Relating to Parts A and B - Subtitle A: Home Health Services - Provides that, in the case of a home health agency that furnishes home health services to a Medicare beneficiary, for each such beneficiary to whom the agency furnished such services during the agency's cost reporting period beginning in FY 2000, the Secretary shall pay the agency for the beneficiary and only for such cost reporting period, an aggregate additional amount of $10 to defray costs attributable to data collection and reporting requirements under the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) required by BBA '97. Requires: (1) the Secretary to pay to a home health agency an amount estimated to be 50 percent of the aggregate amount payable to the agency by reason of this subtitle; and (2) payments under this subtitle to be made, in appropriate part as specified by the Secretary, from Medicare trust funds. (Sec. 301) Requires the Comptroller General to: (1) report to Congress on specified matters with respect to the data collection requirement of patients of home health agencies under the OASIS standard as part of the comprehensive assessment of patients; and (2) conduct an independent audit of, and report to Congress on, the costs incurred by Medicare home health agencies in complying with such data collection requirement. (Sec. 302) Amends BBA' 97 to eliminate the scheduled automatic 15 percent reduction in payment amounts to home health agencies furnishing home health services under the Medicare program. Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for a delay in application of the 15 percent reduction in payment rates for home health services until one year after implementation of the PPS for home health services. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the need for the 15 percent reduction or for any reduction in the computation of the base payments under such PPS. (Sec. 303) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for an increase in the agency-specific per beneficiary annual limitation under the interim system of limits for home health agencies furnishing home health services. Excludes such increase from the home health services PPS base. (Sec. 304) Revises surety bond requirements under home health agencies provisions, requiring such agencies to provide the Secretary with a surety bond: (1) that is effective for a period of four years; and (2) for a year in such period in an amount that is equal to the lesser of $50,000 or ten percent of the aggregate amount of payments to the agency under Medicare and Medicaid for that year, as estimated by the Secretary. Amends part A (General Provisions) of SSA title XI to provide for coordination of surety bonds under Medicare and Medicaid. (Sec. 305) Amends SSA title XVIII to include medical supplies as home health services for purposes of consolidated billing. (Sec. 307) Directs MEDPac to study and report to Congress on the feasibility and advisability of exempting from payment under the PPS for such services any home health services provided by a home health agency (or by others under arrangements with such agency) located in a rural area, or to an individual residing in a rural area. Subtitle B: Direct Graduate Medical Education - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the use of national average payment methodology in computing direct graduate medical education (DGME) payments. (Sec. 312) Makes the initial residency period for child neurology residency training programs the period of board eligibility for pediatrics plus two years. Directs MEDPac to include in its report to Congress in March of 2001 recommendations regarding the appropriateness of the initial residency period used for other residency training programs in a specialty that require preliminary years of study in another specialty. Subtitle C: Technical Corrections - Makes various specified technical corrections to BBA '97 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 codified in SSA title XVIII. (Sec. 321) Amends SSA title XI to repeal provisions on the development of model prospective rate methodology. Title IV: Rural Provider Provisions - Subtitle A: Rural Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to payment to hospitals for inpatient hospital services to: (1) permit reclassification of certain urban hospitals as rural hospitals; and (2) add standards applied for geographic reclassification for certain hospitals for cost reporting periods beginning in a fiscal year before FY 2003 and after FY 2002. (Sec. 403) Revises requirements for the Medicare critical access hospital program to: (1) apply on an annual, average basis the 96-hour limit on providing inpatient care; (2) permit for-profit hospitals to qualify for designation as a critical access hospital; (3) allow closed or downsized hospitals to convert to critical access hospitals; (4) provide for election of cost-based payment option for outpatient critical access hospital services; and (5) eliminate coinsurance for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests furnished by a critical access hospital on an outpatient basis. (Sec. 404) Provides, with respect to payment to hospitals for inpatient hospital services, for: (1) extending for five years the payment methodology for Medicare-dependent, small rural DSH hospitals; (2) rebasing for certain sole community hospitals; (3) providing for a full market basket percentage increase for FY 2001 for sole community hospitals; and (4) increasing flexibility in providing graduate physician training in rural and other areas. (Sec. 408) Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to hospital providers of extended care services to eliminate: (1) the requirement for the hospital to have a certificate of need from the State in order to provide long-term care services; and (2) eliminate "swing bed" restrictions on certain hospitals with more than 49 beds. (Sec. 409) Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to the Medicare rural hospital flexibility program to authorize the Secretary to assist eligible small rural hospitals in meeting the costs of implementing data systems required to meet requirements established under Medicare pursuant to BBA '97 requirements for implementation of PPSs. (Sec. 410) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on the current laws and regulations for geographic reclassification of hospitals to determine if such reclassification: (1) is appropriate for applying wage indices under Medicare; and (2) results in more accurate payments for all hospitals. Subtitle B: Other Rural Provisions - Directs MEDPac to study and report to Congress on rural providers furnishing items and services for which payment is made under Medicare. (Sec. 412) Amends BBA '97 to provide for: (1) expanding access to paramedic intercept services in rural areas; and (2) promoting prompt implementation of the informatics, telemedicine, and education demonstration project. Title V: Provisions Relating to Part C (Medicare+Choice Program) and Other Medicare Managed Care Provisions - Subtitle A: Provisions to Accommodate and Protect Medicare Beneficiaries - Amends SSA title XVIII parts C and D (Miscellaneous) with respect to Medicare+Choice enrollment rules to permit enrollment in alternative Medicare+Choice plans and Medicare supplemental health insurance (Medigap) policies coverage in case of involuntary termination of Medicare+Choice enrollment. (Sec. 502) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to revise the effective date of elections and changes of elections of Medicare+Choice eligible individuals who make such elections after the tenth day of the month. (Sec. 503) Amends SSA title XVIII part D to extend Medicare cost contracts by two years. Subtitle B: Provisions to Facilitate Implementation of the Medicare+Choice Program - Amends title XVIII part C to require the Secretary to phase-in, according to a specified schedule, the implementation of a risk adjustment methodology (in calculating payments to Medicare+Choice organizations) that accounts for variations in per capita costs based on health status and other demographic factors for payments. (Sec. 511) Directs MEDPac to study specified related issues and report to Congress on the methodology used by the Secretary in developing the risk factors used in adjusting the Medicare+Choice capitation rate paid to Medicare+Choice organizations. Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on how to reduce the costs and burdens on Medicare+Choice organizations of compliance with reporting requirements for encounter data imposed by the Secretary in establishing and implementing a risk adjustment methodology. (Sec. 512) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to: (1) provide for a new entry bonus increasing the amount of monthly payment otherwise made to Medicare+Choice organizations in order to encourage the offering of Medicare+Choice plans in certain payment areas without plans; (2) reduce from five to two years the general exclusion period following a Medicare+Choice organization's contract termination; (3) require the continued computation and annual publication of Medicare original fee-for-service expenditures for each Medicare+Choice payment area; (4) direct the Secretary to permit a Medicare+Choice organization to elect to apply Medicare+Choice premiums provisions uniformly to separate segments of a service area (rather than uniformly to an entire service area) as long as such segments are composed of one or more Medicare+Choice payment areas; (5) delay the deadline for submission of proposed premiums and related information each Medicare+Choice organization is required to submit to the Secretary for each Medicare+Choice plan for the service area in which it intends to be offered in the following year; (6) reduce the adjustment in the national per capita Medicare+Choice growth percentage for 2002 with respect to calculation of annual Medicare+Choice capitation rates; (7) make additional requirements that a Medicare+Choice organization may be deemed to meet under specified circumstances if it is privately accredited; (8) change the timing of Medicare+Choice health information fairs; (9) require preferred provider organization plans to meet certain of the quality assurance requirements currently applicable to Medicare+Choice plans; and (10) include the average number of individuals enrolled in Medicare+Choice plans during the fiscal year within the formula limiting the amount of user fees collected by the Secretary in any fiscal year from each Medicare+Choice organization under contract with the Secretary. (Sec. 520) Directs MEDPac to study and report to Congress on appropriate quality improvement standards that should apply to: (1) described Medicare+Choice plans, including coordinated care plans; and (2) the original Medicare fee-for-service program under Medicare parts A and B. (Sec. 521) Amends SSA title XVIII part D to provide that, in the case of a discharge plan for an individual enrolled with a Medicare+Choice organization under a Medicare+Choice plan who is furnished inpatient hospital services by a hospital under a contract with the organization, the discharge planning evaluation is not required to include information on the availability of home health services through individuals and entities which do not have a contract with the organization. Allows the plan to specify or limit the provider or providers of post-hospital home health services or other post-hospital services under the plan. (Sec. 524) Amends SSA title XVIII part D to exempt a Medicare+Choice organization offering a coordinate care plan from the limitation on certain physician referrals. Subtitle C: Demonstration Projects and Special Medicare Populations - Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Acts of 1987 and of 1993 to: (1) extend the authority for the social health maintenance organizations (SHMOs) demonstration project; and (2) authorize the Secretary to impose an aggregate limit of not less than 324,000 for all sites (currently, the Secretary is prohibited from imposing a limit of less than 12,000 on the number of individuals that may participate in a single project site.) (Sec. 532) Extends certain Medicare community nursing organization demonstration projects an additional two years. (Sec. 533) Amends BBA '97 to provide for a delay in implementation of the Medicare+Choice competitive bidding demonstration project. (Sec. 534) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), as amended by BBA '97 and other specified Acts, to extend for two years the Medicare municipal health services demonstration projects. (Sec. 535) Amends BBA '97 with regard to Medicare coordinated care demonstration projects to direct the Secretary to provide for the transfer from the Medicare trust funds, in appropriate proportions, of such funds as necessary to cover costs of the project in a cancer hospital. (Currently amounts shall be available for such hospitals only as provided in any Federal law making appropriations for the District of Columbia). (Sec. 536) Amends SSA title XVIII part D to extend to enrollees in programs of all-inclusive care for the elderly (PACE programs) the Medigap prohibitions on denial of issuance of Medigap policies, discrimination in policy pricing, and imposition of an exclusion of benefits based on a pre-existing condition. Subtitle D: Medicare+Choice Nursing and Allied Health Professional Education Payments - Amends SSA title XVIII part D to provide for: (1) payment for nursing and allied health education for managed care enrollees; and (2) adjustments in payments for direct graduate medical education. Directs the Secretary to estimate a proportional adjustment in payments for nursing and allied health education. Subtitle E: Studies and Reports - Directs the Secretary, jointly with the Secretaries of Defense and of Veterans Affairs, to report to Congress on the estimated use of health care services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries by the Departments of Defense and of Veterans Affairs, including beneficiaries under the original Medicare fee-for-service program and under the Medicare+Choice program. (Sec. 552) Directs MEDPac to study and report to Congress on the development of a payment methodology under the Medicare+Choice program for frail elderly beneficiaries enrolled in a Medicare+Choice plan under a specialized program. Directs MEDPac to report to Congress on specific legislative changes that should be made to make Medical Savings Account plans a viable option under the Medicare+Choice program. (Sec. 553) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress on each type of Medigap policy with respect to: (1) the level of coverage provided; (2) current enrollment levels; (3) policy availability to Medicare beneficiaries over age 65 Directs the Comptroller General to: (1) conduct an annual audit of the Secretary's expenditures during the preceding year in providing information regarding the Medicare+Choice program to eligible Medicare beneficiaries; and (2) report to Congress on the results of such audits of the preceding three years, together with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the means used by the Secretary in providing such information. Title VI: Medicaid - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to: (1) increase the DSH allotment for the District of Columbia, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wyoming; (2) remove the fiscal year limitation on certain transitional administrative costs assistance; (3) modify the phase-out of payment for Federally-qualified health center services and rural health clinic services based on reasonable costs; (6) provide for parity in reimbursement for certain utilization and quality control services; (7) eliminate duplicative requirements for external quality review of Medicaid managed care organizations; (8) make the enhanced match under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) inapplicable to Medicaid DSH payments; and (9) provide for the optional deferment of the effective date for outpatient drug agreements. (Sec. 603) Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the effect on Federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics and on the populations served by such centers and clinics of the phase-out and elimination of the reasonable cost basis for payment for Federally-qualified health center services and rural health clinic services provided. Amends BBA '97 to make the Medicaid DSH transition rule permanent. Title VII: State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) - Amends SSA title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) (SCHIP) to revise the SCHIP allotment formula, among other changes revising the floor for State allotments and adding ceilings. (Sec. 702) Increases appropriations for FY 2000 through 2007 for U.S. territories with approved SCHIP plans. (Sec. 703) Directs the Secretary of Commerce to make appropriate adjustments to the annual Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census in order to produce statistically reliable annual State data on the number of low-income children without health insurance coverage, so that real changes in the uninsurance rates of children can reasonably be detected. Makes appropriations. Requires the HHS Secretary to conduct an independent evaluation of ten select States with approved child health plans, including surveys of enrollees, disenrollees, and individuals eligible for but not enrolled in SCHIP, and evaluation of effective and ineffective outreach and enrollment practices with respect to children. Makes appropriations for FY 2000. Directs the Secretary to audit a sample from among States with an approved State child health plan to: (1) determine the number of plan enrollees eligible under Medicaid (other than as optional targeted low-income children; and (2) assess the progress made in reducing the number of uncovered low-income children, including the progress made to achieve the strategic objectives and performance goals in the State child health plan. Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to require each State's annual reports to the Secretary on its activities under such title to include information (by racial and ethnic group) on the number of infants in the State under one year of age who were entitled to benefits under the State SCHIP plan at any time during the year. Directs the Secretary to establish a clearinghouse for the consolidation and the coordination of all Federal databases and reports regarding children's health. (Sec. 704) Directs the Secretary or any other Federal officer or employee, with respect to any reference to the program under SSA title XXI in any publication or other official communication to use the term "SCHIP" instead of "CHIP" and the term "State's children's health insurance program" instead of the term "children's health insurance program."
Bill· HRH.R. 3424 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 17 November 1999
Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and related agencies. Title I: Department of Labor - Department of Labor Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 to the Department of Labor for: (1) training and employment services; (2) community service employment for older Americans; (3) Federal unemployment benefits and allowances; (4) State unemployment insurance and employment service operations; (5) advances to the Unemployment Trust Fund and other trust funds; (6) employment and training program administration; (7) the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (8) the Employment Standards Administration; (9) certain special benefits; (10) the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund; (11) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (12) the Mine Safety and Health Administration; (13) the Bureau of Labor Statistics; (14) departmental management; (15) the Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training; and (16) the Office of Inspector General. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. Title II: Department of Health and Human Services - Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for: (1) the Health Resources and Services Administration; (2) the Medical Facilities Guarantee and Loan Fund for Federal interest subsidies for medical facilities; (3) health education assistance loans; (4) the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Trust Fund; (5) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (6) the National Institutes of Health, including amounts for the John E. Fogarty International Center, the National Library of Medicine, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the Office of the Director, and buildings and facilities; (7) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; (8) the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; (9) the Health Care Financing Administration for grants to States for Medicaid, payments to health care trust funds, program management, and the Health Maintenance Organization Loan and Loan Guarantee Fund; (10) the Administration for Children and Families for family support payments to States; (11) low income home energy assistance; (12) refugee and entrant assistance; (13) the child care and development block grant; (14) the social services block grant; (15) children and families services programs; (16) promoting safe and stable families pursuant to a specified provision of the Social Security Act; (17) payments to States for foster care and adoption assistance; (18) the Administration on Aging; (19) the Office of the Secretary for general departmental management; (20) the Office of Inspector General; (21) the Office for Civil Rights; (22) policy research; (23) retirement pay and medical benefits for Public Health Service commissioned officers; and (24) activities related to countering potential biological, disease, and chemical threats to civilian populations. Rescinds FY 2000 funds for a sample study of child welfare. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. (Sec. 209) Prohibits funds appropriated in this Act from being made available under title X (population research and voluntary family planning) of the Public Health Service Act unless the award applicant certifies to the Secretary of HHS that it encourages family participation in the decision of minors to seek family planning services and provides counseling to minors on resisting attempts to coerce them into engaging in sexual activities. (Sec. 211) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated by this Act to carry out the Medicare+Choice program if the Secretary of HHS denies participation in such program to an otherwise eligible entity (including a Provider Sponsored Organization) because the entity informs the Secretary that it will not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or provide referrals for abortions. (Sec. 212) Amends the Public Health Service Act to require State allotments under block grants for community health services for FY 2000 to be at least the amount the State received for FY 1998. Provides a specified minimum State allotment for FY 2000 under block grants for substance abuse prevention and treatment as well. (Sec. 214) Amends the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1990 to extend through FY 2000 the authorization of admission into the United States of a specified number of refugees from the independent states of the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania based on religious persecution owing to participation in the Ukrainian Catholic or Orthodox churches. Makes September 30, 2000, the latest allowable entry date for specified aliens from the former Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for purposes of qualifying for adjustment of status. (Sec. 215) Prohibits the use of funds provided in any Act making FY 2000 appropriations for the implementation in Arizona or in Kansas City, Missouri or Kansas, of the Medicare Competitive Pricing Demonstration Project operated by the Secretary of HHS under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. (Sec. 217) Directs the Secretary of HHS to study and report to Congress on: (1) the reasons why, and the appropriateness of the fact that, the geographic adjustment factor used in determining the amount of payment for physicians' services under Medicare is less for services provided in New Mexico than for those provided in Arizona, Colorado, and Texas; and (2) the effect that the level of the geographic cost-of-practice adjustment factor has on the recruitment and retention of physicians in small rural States. (Sec. 218) Prohibits funds appropriated by this Act from being used to withhold substance abuse funding from a State pursuant to Public Health Service Act provisions for withholding funds from States that are not in compliance with specified requirements prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors if a State certifies to the Secretary of HHS that it will commit additional State funds to ensure compliance with State laws prohibiting such sales. (Sec. 219) Bars the use of funds made available under this title to carry out the transmittal of August 13, 1997 (relating to self-administered drugs), of the Deputy Director of the Division of Acute Care of the Health Care Financing Administration to regional offices of the Administration or to promulgate any regulation or other transmittal or policy directive that imposes or clarifies the imposition of a restriction on the coverage of injectable drugs under Medicare beyond the restrictions applied before the date of such transmittal. Title III: Department of Education - Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2000 - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 to the Department of Education for: (1) education reform; (2) education for the disadvantaged; (3) impact aid; (4) school improvement activities; (5) reading excellence; (6) Indian education; (7) bilingual and immigrant education; (8) special education; (9) rehabilitation services and disability research; (10) special institutions for persons with disabilities, including the American Printing House for the Blind, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, and Gallaudet University; (11) vocational and adult education; (12) student financial assistance; (13) the Federal Family Education Loan program account; (14) higher education; (15) Howard University; (16) the college housing and academic facilities loans program; (17) the historically Black college and university capital financing program account; (18) education research, statistics, and improvement; (19) departmental management; (20) the Office for Civil Rights; and (21) the Office of the Inspector General. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. (Sec. 301) Prohibits funds appropriated in this Act from being used to: (1) transport teachers or students in order to overcome racial imbalance in any school or to carry out a racial desegregation plan; or (2) prevent the implementation of programs of voluntary prayer and meditation in public schools. (Sec. 306) Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reduce to 35 percent the Federal share available for Even Start family literacy programs in any year after the eighth year of receiving assistance. Removes a provision which limits the receipt of such assistance to a period of eight years. (Sec. 307) Requires the Secretary of Education to restore the eligibility of Jacksonville College in Texas to participate in the Pell Grant program. Directs the College to implement a default management plan satisfactory to the Secretary. (Sec. 310) Allocates amounts appropriated for title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Provides for distribution of funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) for purposes of reducing class size. Authorizes the use of such funds for: (1) recruiting, hiring, and training teachers; (2) testing new teachers for academic content knowledge and to meet State certification requirements; and (3) providing professional development to teachers. Requires States and LEAs to report to parents on progress in reducing class size, increasing the percentage of classes in core academic areas taught by fully qualified teachers who are certified and demonstrate competency in the content areas in which they teach, and the impact that hiring additional highly qualified teachers and reducing class size has had on increasing student academic achievement. Repeals titles III and IV of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act on September 30, 2000. (Sec. 311) Amends the Y2K Act to prohibit punitive damages in a Y2K action from being awarded against an institution of higher education. Makes such prohibition inapplicable to an institution where the Y2K failure occurred in a computer-based student financial aid system of that institution and the institution has passed Y2K data exchange testing with the Department of Education or is not or was not in the process of performing data exchange testing with the Department at the time the Department terminates such testing. (Sec. 312) Amends the Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children Protection Act to remove a funding provision with respect to a study of school violence. Title IV: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 2000 to the: (1) Armed Forces Retirement Home; (2) Corporation for National and Community Service; (3) Corporation for Public Broadcasting; (4) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; (5) Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission; (6) Office of Library Services; (7) Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; (8) National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; (9) National Council on Disability; (10) National Education Goals Panel; (11) National Labor Relations Board; (12) National Mediation Board; (13) Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (14) Railroad Retirement Board for the dual benefits payments account, Federal payments to the railroad retirement accounts, administration, and the Office of Inspector General; (15) Social Security Administration for payments to the social security trust funds, special benefits for disabled coal miners, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program, administrative expenses, and the Office of Inspector General; and (15) U.S. Institute of Peace. Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this title. Title V: General Provisions - Sets forth authorized uses of, and limitations on, funds appropriated under this Act. (Sec. 505) Prohibits the use of funds appropriated under this Act for programs to distribute sterile needles or syringes for the injection of illegal drugs. (Sec. 506) Sets forth Buy American requirements. (Sec. 508) Prohibits funds appropriated under this Act from being expended for abortions or for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion, except in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or where a woman suffers from a physical condition that would, as certified by a physician, place her in danger of death unless an abortion is performed. (Sec. 510) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for: (1) the creation of a human embryo for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo is destroyed or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under Federal regulations and the Public Health Service Act. (Sec. 511) Prohibits the use of funds made available in this Act for activities to promote the legalization of a controlled substance unless there is significant medical evidence of a therapeutic advantage to the use of such substance or that federally-sponsored trials are being conducted to determine such advantage. (Sec. 514) Bars the use of funds made available in this Act to promulgate a final standard under the Social Security Act providing for a unique health identifier for an individual (except in an individual's capacity as an employer or health care provider) until legislation is enacted specifically approving the standard. (Sec. 515) Amends the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997 to extend the availability of certain voluntary separation incentives for employees of the Railroad Retirement Board and its Office of Inspector General. (Sec. 516) Amends the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission Act to require the President to appoint the U.S. members of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission and to attempt to conclude an agreement with Mexico providing for the establishment of such Commission. Eliminates a Commission duty to formulate recommendations regarding a method by which the government of one country could reimburse an entity in the other country for the cost of a health care service provided by the entity to a citizen of the first country who is unable to pay for the service. (Sec. 517) Provides that the applicable time limitations with respect to the giving of notice of injury and the filing of a claim for compensation for disability or death under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act for injuries sustained as a result of exposure to a nitrogen or sulfur mustard agent in the performance of official duties as an employee at the Department of the Army's Edgewood Arsenal before March 20, 1944, shall not begin to run until this Act's enactment date. Title VI: Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Interventions For Newborns and Infants With Hearing Loss - Mandates grants or cooperative agreements to: (1) develop statewide newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention programs and systems; and (2) provide technical assistance to State agencies to complement an intramural program and to conduct applied research related to newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention programs and systems. Requires the National Institutes of Health to continue a program of research and development on the efficacy of new screening techniques and technology. Mandates Federal coordination and collaboration with State and local agencies, consumer groups, national medical, health, and education specialty organizations, deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals and their families, qualified professional personnel, and related commercial industries. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Denali Commission - Amends the Denali Commission Act of 1998 to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to the Denali Commission to plan, construct, and equip demonstration health, nutrition, and child care projects in order to demonstrate the value of adequate health facilities and services to regional economic development. Limits grants for construction or equipment to 50 percent of costs (80 percent for projects located in severely economically distressed communities). Authorizes appropriations. Title VIII: Welfare-To-Work And Child Support Amendments of 1999 - Amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) repeal certain eligibility requirements (thus allowing flexibility in eligibility) for participation of both custodial and noncustodial parents in the welfare-to-work (WtW) program; (2) make vocational educational and job training of up to six months allowable TANF activities; (3) authorize a grantee that is neither a private industry council nor a workforce investment board to provide employment services directly; (4) revise financial and participant information reporting requirements; (5) authorize State agencies to disclose name, address, and telephone information (subject to safeguards) about potential program participants to aid private industry councils in their administration of WtW grant funds; and (6) reduce the set-aside of a portion of WtW funds for performance bonuses. (Sec. 807) Amends SSA title IV part D (Child Support and Establishment of Paternity) to establish an alternative penalty procedure for State disbursement units under which: (1) units that achieve compliance requirements by April 1, 2000, shall have all penalties waived; and (2) units that achieve compliance between April 1, 2000, and September 30, 2000, shall pay no more than one percent of the penalty base with respect to the failure involved.
Bill· SS. 1935 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1999
Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act of 1999 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to provide for Medicaid coverage of community attendant services and supports for eligible individuals with disabilities. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to eligible States which have established a Consumer Task Force to assist the State in its development of real choice systems change initiatives with regard to consumer-responsive long-term services to eligible individuals. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the National Council on Disability to review and report to Congress on: (1) certain Medicaid regulations on home health and personal care services; and (2) how Medicaid expenditures can be reduced by the furnishing of community attendant services and supports. Directs the Secretary to establish a task force to examine appropriate methods for financing long-term services and supports.
Bill· SS. 1929 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1999
Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act Reauthorization of 1999 - Amends the Native Hawaiian Health Care Improvement Act (the Act) to find that the unmet needs and serious health disparities that adversely affect Native Hawaiians include cancer, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, hypertension, strokes, infectious disease and illness, dental health, life expectancy, maternal and child health, mental health (including alcohol and drug abuse), and health professions education and training. Expresses as the intent of Congress: (1) the establishment and implementation of health care programs which substantially reduce or eliminate the over-representation of Native Hawaiians among those suffering from chronic and acute disease and illness and addressing Native Hawaiian health needs; and (2) to meet the Healthy People 2010 and Kanaka Maoli health objectives (objectives designed to combat the unmet Native Hawaiian needs and serious health disparities described above). Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to Congress on the progress made in achieving such objectives. Authorizes the Secretary to contract with Papa Ola Lokahi (an organization of public agencies and private organizations focused on improving the health status of Native Hawaiians) to support community-based initiatives that are reflective of holistic approaches to health. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to consult periodically with Papa Ola Lokahi in maintaining an established clearinghouse for the collection and maintenance of data associated with the health status of Native Hawaiians. Directs Papa Ola Lokahi to make annual recommendations to the Secretary with respect to the allocation of all amounts appropriated under the Act. Limits to eight the number of Native Hawaiian health care systems that the Secretary may award a grant to or contract with to provide comprehensive health promotion and disease prevention services for Native Hawaiians. Authorizes the Secretary, in addition to such grants and contracts, to make a grant to or contract with Papa Ola Lokahi for planning with Native Hawaiian health care systems to serve the health needs of Native Hawaiian communities on each of the islands of Oahu, Molokai, Maui, Hawaii, Lanai, Kauai, and Niihau. Adds to the services authorized under all such grants and contracts the support of culturally appropriate activities enhancing health and wellness, including land-, water-, ocean-, and spiritually-based projects and programs. Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for such grants. Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for administrative grants for Papa Ola Lokahi. Limits to 15 (currently ten) the percentage of grant funds that may be used by an entity for administrative purposes. Changes reporting requirements of such entities from a quarterly to an annual basis. Allows the Secretary to provide funds to an appropriate Native Hawaiian organization or health care organization (currently, only to Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate) to provide scholarship assistance to Native Hawaiian students enrolled in health professions courses or programs. Adds the provision of fellowships to authorized fund uses. Extends through FY 2010 the authorization of appropriations for such scholarships and fellowships. Authorizes the Secretary to provide funds to carry out Native Hawaiian demonstration projects of national significance. Prohibits such funding from reducing other funding provided under this Act. Establishes a National Bipartisan Native Hawaiian Health Care Entitlement Commission: (1) to establish a study committee to collect and compile data concerning Native Hawaiian needs with regard to the provision of health services; and (2) after reviewing the study committee's report, to make recommendations to Congress for the provision of such services as an entitlement. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 1932 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1999
Ricky Ray Fairness Act of 1999 - Amends the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act of 1998 to: (1) remove a funding limit with respect to the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund; (2) authorize payments from such Fund to individuals who are diagnosed with AIDS and meet certain other requirements; and (3) authorize Fund payments for individuals who were treated with HIV contaminated blood transfusion, components, or human tissue provided by a medical professional during the period beginning on January 1, 1982, through March 31, 1985.
Bill· SS. 1928 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1999
Medicare Subvention Demonstration for Veterans Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to authorize the Secretaries of Health and Human Services (HHS) and of Veterans Affairs (VA) to establish a demonstration project under which the HHS Secretary, acting under a coordinated care health plan model, shall reimburse the VA Secretary from the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund for Medicare health care services furnished to targeted Medicare-eligible veterans who volunteer for such project. Requires the demonstration project to be conducted at up to eight sites jointly designated by the Secretaries. Directs the VA Secretary to establish and operate coordinated care health plans to provide benefits to the targeted veterans enrolled in the project. Modifies the current Medicare subvention demonstration project for military retirees, permitting a one year extension of the project and, under certain conditions, permitting payment on a fee-for-service basis. Increases from 45 percent to 51 percent the amount that may be reduced, for cost reporting periods after FY 1999, from the amount of Medicare enrollee bad debt that is otherwise treated as allowable costs for purposes of determining the reasonable costs of Medicare-reimbursable outpatient hospital services furnished to Medicare enrollees.
Bill· HRH.R. 3397 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 1999
Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2000 - Amends the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (the Act) to require funding authorized for programs under title I (Indian health, human resources, and development) of the Act to be allocated by service area under a formula developed in consultation with Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations. Empowers the Director of the Indian Health Service (IHS) with the administration of Indian health professions scholarships. Requires all recipients of such scholarships awarded after 2001 to meet the active duty service obligation (service with the IHS or related service for Indians) within the service area from which the scholarship was awarded. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make funds available to Indian tribes and tribal organizations to assist such entities in educating Indians to serve as health professionals in Indian communities, as long as such Indians are enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a course of study in one of the health professions contemplated by the Act. Requires a written contractual agreement from such recipients to provide service in an Indian health program in the same service area where the entity providing the scholarship is located. Provides Indian health scholarship recipients a preference for IHS employment or authorizes employment by a program of an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or urban Indian organization, or other HHS agencies, as available. Adds Indian tribes and tribal organizations as participants in the Community Health Representative Program under the Act, which provides for the training and use of Indians as community health representatives (currently, as community health paraprofessionals). Allows participants completing a term of education under the Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program to be employed within an Indian urban organization. Discontinues the annual authorization of appropriations for the Indian Health Scholarship and Loan Repayment Recovery Fund. Authorizes the Secretary to reimburse health professionals seeking positions with Indian tribes, tribal organizations, or urban Indian organizations (currently, only those seeking employment with the IHS) for certain recruitment evaluation expenses. Limits to three years demonstration programs to enable Indian tribes, tribal organizations (current law), and urban Indian organizations to recruit, place, and retain Indian health professionals. Requires health professionals from urban Indian organizations to be given an equal opportunity to participate in a demonstration program to enable Indian health professionals to pursue advanced training or research in needed areas of study. Discontinues the annual authorization of appropriations for the Indian Nursing Program. Requires the Secretary to award grants to community colleges for programs which provide education in a health profession for individuals who desire to practice such profession in the IHS or a tribal health program (currently, only on an Indian reservation or tribal clinic). Provides a funding priority for tribally controlled colleges in service areas where they exist. Authorizes the Secretary to pay a retention bonus to any health professional (currently, physician or nurse) employed by or assigned to, and serving in, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, or urban Indian organizations (currently, only in the IHS) who meet specified requirements. Directs the Secretary to develop and operate a National Community Health Aide Program based on the current Community Health Aide Program for Alaska. Authorizes the Secretary to fund pilot programs for tribes and tribal organizations to address the chronic shortages of health professionals. Deems scholarships provided under title I of the Act as "qualified scholarships" and therefore excluded from gross income for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code. Makes a certain prohibition on the Secretary removing a member of the National Health Service Corps from an Indian health program applicable to health programs operated by urban Indian organizations as well. Requires all service areas served by programs operated by the IHS, tribes, tribal organizations, or urban Indian organizations to be designated as Health Professional Shortage areas under the Public Health Service Act. Authorizes appropriations through FY 2012 to carry out title I of the Act. Provides additional authorized uses for funds appropriated under the authority of provisions regarding the Indian Health Care Improvement Fund. Authorizes such funds to be allocated to Indian tribes or tribal organizations. Requires funds provided through the Indian Catastrophic Health Emergency Fund to be administered by service area offices based upon priorities determined by the Indian tribes and tribal organizations within each area. Increases the cost level required to qualify for payments from the Fund. Requires the Secretary to continue to fund through FY 2012 each model diabetes project in existence on the date of enactment of this Act. Directs the Secretary to include funding to establish dialysis programs. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into arrangements with Indian tribes or tribal organizations for the delivery of long-term care and similar services to Indians on a shared- services basis. Directs the Secretary to make funding available for research to further the performance of the health service responsibilities of the IHS, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations and to coordinate the activities of other agencies within HHS to address such research needs. Directs the Secretary to provide mammography and other cancer screening through Indian tribes or tribal organizations (currently, only through the IHS). Requires the Secretary to pay certain patient travel costs through Indian tribes and tribal organizations (currently, only through the IHS). Revises provisions regarding epidemiology centers. Directs the Secretary to provide funding to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations (currently, Indian tribes) to develop comprehensive school health education programs for children from preschool through grade 12 in schools (currently, schools on reservations) for the benefit of Indian and urban Indian children. Includes urban Indian preadolescent and adolescent youth within a program for innovative mental and physical disease prevention and health promotion and treatment. Authorizes the Secretary to make funding available to Indian tribes and tribal organizations for the prevention, control, and elimination of communicable and infectious diseases. Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the IHS, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations, to provide funding for other health care services and programs not otherwise described in the Act, including hospice care and assisted living, long-term health care, home- and community-based services, public health functions, and traditional health care practices. Directs the Secretary, acting through the IHS, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations, to provide funding to monitor and improve the quality of health care for Indian women of all ages through the planning and delivery of programs administered by the IHS. (Currently, an Office of Indian Women's Health Care has such monitoring duty.) Revises provisions regarding nuclear resource development health hazards to direct the Secretary and the IHS to conduct studies and ongoing monitoring programs to determine trends in health hazards to Indian miners and to Indians on or near Indian reservations and in Indian communities as a result of environmental hazards which may result in chronic or life-threatening health problems. Extends through FY 2012 the designation of Arizona as a contract health service delivery area for purposes of providing health care services to members of federally recognized Arizona Indian tribes. Authorizes the Secretary to fund a program using the California Rural Indian Health Board as a contract care intermediary to improve the accessibility of health services to California Indians. Allows certain counties in California that are currently excluded from the contract health services delivery area to be included in such area if funding is provided by the IHS for such services in those counties. Requires the IHS to provide funds for health care programs and facilities operated by Indian tribes and tribal organizations under funding agreements entered into under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEA) on the same basis as such funds are provided to programs and facilities operated directly by the IHS. Exempts from State licensing requirements health care professionals employed by Indian tribes and tribal organizations to carry out the above funding agreements if such individuals are licensed in any other State. Allows elderly or disabled Indians receiving emergency medical care or services from a non-IHS provider or in a non-IHS facility 30 days to notify the IHS of such treatment or admission. Extends through FY 2012 the authorization of appropriations for title II (health services) of the Act. Prohibits the closure of any hospital, outpatient health care, inpatient service, or special care facility operated by the IHS if the Secretary has not submitted to Congress at least one year prior to such proposed closure an evaluation of the impact of such closure. Directs the Secretary to establish a health care facility priority system. Directs the Secretary, beginning in the year 2000, to annually transmit to the President a report setting forth the needs of the IHS and all Indian tribes and tribal organizations for inpatient, outpatient, and specialized care facilities. Directs the Secretary to consult and cooperate with Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations in developing innovative approaches to address unmet needs for the construction of health facilities. Provides authority for the Secretary to use specified appropriated funds for providing sanitation facilities and related services to Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Requires the Secretary to: (1) enter into inter-agency agreements with appropriate Federal agencies to provide financial assistance for safe water supply and sanitary sewage disposal facilities under the Act; and (2) establish standards applicable to the planning, design, and construction of water supply and sanitary sewage and solid waste disposal facilities funded under the Act. Makes the Indian family, community, or tribe primarily responsible for establishing, collecting, and using reasonable user fees for operating and maintaining sanitation facilities. Revises the defined water sanitation deficiency levels for facilities serving an Indian individual or community. Exempts construction or renovation of facilities constructed or renovated by funds made available under title III (facilities) of the Act from the Davis-Bacon Act. Authorizes the Secretary to accept any major expansion (currently, only renovation or modernization) by an Indian tribe of any IHS facility or any other Indian health facility operated pursuant to a funding agreement entered into under ISDEA.Revises grant eligibility requirements with respect to the construction, expansion, or modernization of ambulatory care facilities. Authorizes all Federal agencies to transfer land and improvements to the IHS at no cost for the provision of health care services. Makes certain provisions that authorize leases with Indian tribes applicable to tribal organizations as well. Considers such leases as operating leases for purposes of scoring under the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. Establishes in the Treasury the Health Care Facilities Loan Fund to provide Indian tribes and tribal organizations direct loans, or guarantees for loans, for construction of health care facilities and related facilities and staff quarters. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes Indian tribes and tribal organizations (currently, only Indian tribes) providing health care services pursuant to a funding agreement under the ISDEA to lease permanent structures for providing health care services without obtaining advance approval in appropriations Acts. Directs the Secretary to establish joint venture demonstration projects under which an Indian tribe or tribal organization shall expend tribal, private, or other available funds for the acquisition or construction of a health care facility for a minimum of ten years under a no-cost lease, in exchange for agreement by the IHS to provide the equipment, supplies, and staffing for such facility. Makes an Indian tribe or tribal organization liable for noncompletion of such a project. Adds Alaska Native lands to the definition of "Indian lands" for purposes of giving priority to locating Bureau of Indian Affairs and IHS facilities on such lands. Requires an annual report from the Secretary to the President identifying the backlog of maintenance and repair work required at both IHS and tribal health care facilities. Authorizes an Indian tribe or tribal organization which operates a hospital or other health care facility and the federally owned quarters associated therewith pursuant to a funding agreement under the ISDEA to establish the rental rates charged, and to notify the Secretary of its election to exercise such authority. Requires rental occupants to be notified at least 60 days in advance of a change in rental rates by an Indian tribe or tribal organization. Authorizes such tribe or organization to collect rents directly from Federal employees occupying such quarters, under specified conditions and procedures. Authorizes the Secretary to accept from any source funds for the construction of Indian health care facilities, and to enter into funding agreements with other Federal entities for such purposes. Extends through FY 2012 the authorization of appropriations for title III of the Act. Requires the Secretary, in making payments to IHS service units for services rendered to Indians eligible for benefits under title XIX (Medicaid), to ensure that each such unit receives 100 (currently 80) percent of the amounts to which such facilities are entitled under the Medicaid provisions.Directs the Secretary to make grants to, or enter into funding agreements with, Indian tribes (currently, only tribal organizations) for establishing and administering programs on or near Indian reservations and trust areas and Alaska Native villages to assist Indians to enroll and apply for Medicare, Medicaid, and child health assistance under XXI (Children's Health Insurance) of the Social Security Act. Requires the Secretary to make grants or enter into contracts with urban Indian organizations for the provision of such assistance to urban Indians. Makes permanent (currently a demonstration project) a program under which an Indian tribe or tribal organization may directly bill and receive reimbursement for health care services provided for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, a State's children's insurance health plan approved under title XXI (Children's Health Insurance) of the Social Security Act, or from any other third-party payor. Applies to urban Indian organizations a certain right to recovery of expenses incurred by the United States, Indian tribes, or tribal organizations in providing health services. Provides for the enforcement of such right of recovery. Authorizes tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to use funding from the Secretary under this Act to purchase managed care coverage for IHS beneficiaries. Directs the Secretary to examine, and report to Congress on, the feasibility of entering into or expanding existing arrangements for the sharing of medical facilities and services between the IHS and the Department of Veterans Affairs and other appropriate Federal agencies. Authorizes the IHS Director to enter into agreements with other Federal agencies to assist in achieving parity in health services for Indians. Makes the IHS and programs operated by Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations the payor of last resort for services provided to persons eligible for services from these programs, notwithstanding contradicting Federal, State, or local law, unless such law explicitly provides otherwise. Makes such entities eligible to receive payment or reimbursement for services provided by such entities from any federally funded health care program, unless there is an explicit prohibition on such payments in the applicable authorizing statute. Authorizes the IHS service unit in Tuba City, Arizona, to enter into a demonstration project with Arizona under which the IHS would provide certain Medicaid services to IHS/Medicaid eligibles in return for payment from the State. Entitles an Indian tribe or tribal organization carrying out programs under the ISDEA, or an urban Indian organization carrying out programs under title V of the Act, to purchase Federal health and life insurance for the employees of such tribe or organization. Requires certain consultation with Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations prior to the adoption of any policy or regulation by the Health Care Financing Administration. Authorizes the IHS, an Indian tribe, or tribal organization to apply for a waiver of certain Medicare, Medicaid, or Children's Health Insurance sanctions. Excludes from the definition of "remuneration," for purposes of specified provisions of the Social Security Act, certain exchanges of value between or among the IHS, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations related to the provision of health care services. Prohibits any Indian eligible for services under Medicare, Medicaid, or Children's Health Insurance of the Social Security Act from being charged a deductible or other payment for any service provided by or through the IHS, an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or urban Indian organization. Excludes certain income and property from the estate, for purposes of eligibility for services or implementing estate recovery rights under Medicare, Medicaid, or Children's Health Insurance. Prohibits a parent from being responsible for reimbursing the Federal Government or a State for the cost of medical services provided to a child through the IHS, an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or urban Indian organization. Provides such entities with a right of recovery from all private and public health plans for the reasonable costs of delivering health services to Indians entitled to receive services. Requires States entering into agreements with one or more managed care organizations to provide services under Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance to enter into such an agreement with the IHS, an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or urban Indian organization that can provide services to Indians who may be eligible or required to enroll in such a managed care plan. Authorizes the Secretary to treat the Navajo Nation as a State, for purposes of Medicaid, to provide services to Indians living within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. Directs the Health Care Financing Administration to establish and fund a National Indian Technical Advisory Group and an Indian Medicaid Advisory Committee. Extends through FY 2012 the authorization of appropriations for title IV (access to health services) of the Act. Authorizes the Secretary, through the IHS, to contract with, or make grants to, an urban Indian organization that provides or arranges for the provision of health care services to urban Indians in more than one urban center. Changes from quarterly to semiannually certain reporting requirements of urban Indian organizations receiving or expending funds pursuant to a grant or contract with respect to health care services provided to urban Indians. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to contractors or other recipients for the lease, purchase, renovation, construction, or expansion of facilities in order to assist them in complying with licensure or certification requirements. Authorizes the Secretary, acting through the IHS or the Health Resources and Services Administration, to provide loans to such entities from the Urban Indian Health Care Facilities Revolving Loan Fund (established herein) for the construction, renovation, expansion, or purchase of health care facilities. Redesignates the Branch of Urban Health Programs as the Office of Urban Indian Health. Includes among office responsibilities the provision of technical assistance to urban Indian organizations. Treats the Tulsa Clinic demonstration project as a permanent program within the IHS direct care program and as a service unit in the allocation of resources and coordination of Indian health care. Requires grants or contracts made or entered into by the Secretary for the administration of urban Indian alcohol programs to become effective no later than September 30, 2001.Directs the Secretary to ensure that the IHS, the Health Care Financing Administration, and other operating and staff divisions of HHS consult with urban Indian organizations prior to taking any action, or approving Federal financial assistance for any action, that may affect urban Indians or urban Indian organizations. Deems an urban Indian organization that has entered into a contract or received a grant pursuant to title V (health services for urban Indians) of the Act to be part of the Public Health Service while carrying out such contract or grant for purposes of coverage under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Directs the Secretary to make payments for the construction and operation of at least two residential alcohol treatment centers in each State where there reside urban Indian youth with a need for alcohol and substance abuse treatment services and at which there is a significant shortage of such services. Directs the Secretary to permit an urban Indian organization that has entered into a contract or received a grant under title V of the Act to use existing facilities and equipment and other personal property owned by the Federal Government, including that determined to be excess to the needs of the IHS or the General Services Administration. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to those urban Indian organizations that have entered into a contract or grant under title V of the Act for the provision of services for the prevention, treatment, and control of complications resulting from, diabetes among urban Indians. Authorizes the Secretary, through the IHS, to enter into contracts with, and make grants to, urban Indian organizations for the use of Indians trained as health service providers through the Community Health Representatives Program in the provision of health care, health promotion, and disease prevention services to urban Indians. Extends through FY 2012 the authorization of appropriations for title V and VI (organizational improvements) of the Act. Directs the Secretary, acting through the IHS, Indian tribes, and tribal and urban Indian organizations, to encourage Indian tribes and tribal organizations to participate in developing area-wide plans for Indian Behavioral Health Services, including plans for treating substance abuse, mental illness, and dysfunctional and self-destructive behavior (suicide, child abuse, and family violence) among Indians. Requires the establishment of a national clearinghouse for such plans and related information. Authorizes technical assistance to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations to develop community behavioral health plans. Directs the Secretary, acting through the IHS and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, to provide a program of comprehensive behavioral health, prevention, treatment, and aftercare for Indian tribes. Requires the development of criteria for the certification of behavioral health service providers and accreditation of service facilities providing such care. Directs (currently, authorizes) the Secretary to make funds available to urban Indian organizations to develop and implement a comprehensive behavioral health program (currently, an alcohol and substance abuse program) of prevention, intervention, treatment, and relapse prevention services that specifically address the spiritual, cultural, historical, social, and child care needs of Indian women, regardless of age. (Currently, such funding is available only to Indian tribes and tribal organizations.) Includes behavioral health services within a current program for acute detoxification and treatment for Indian youth. Authorizes the Secretary to provide specified intermediate behavioral health services to Indian children and adolescents. Requires Indian tribes or tribal organizations (currently, only the Secretary) to develop and implement within each IHS service unit community- based rehabilitation and follow-up services for Indian youth who are having significant behavioral health problems and require long-term treatment, community reintegration, and monitoring after their return to their home community. Provides for the inclusion of family members of such youth in their treatment. Directs the Secretary, acting through the IHS, Indian tribes, and tribal and urban Indian organizations, to provide programs and services to prevent and treat the abuse of multiple forms of substances, including alcohol, drugs, inhalants, and tobacco, among Indian youth residing in Indian communities, on Indian reservations, and in urban areas and to provide appropriate mental health services to address the incidence of mental illness among such youth. Directs the Secretary, acting through the IHS and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, to provide, in each IHS service area, not less than one inpatient mental health care facility for Indians with behavioral health problems. Requires the Secretary to develop and implement (or provide funding to enable Indian tribes and tribal organizations to implement) programs of behavioral health (currently, alcohol and substance abuse) community leadership training and education. Directs the Secretary, acting through Indian tribes and tribal and urban Indian organizations, to establish and operate fetal alcohol disorders programs in order to meet specified health status objectives. (Currently, the Secretary is authorized to make grants to Indian tribes and tribal organizations to establish such programs.) Redesignates a task force established for such purposes as the Fetal Alcohol Disorders Task Force. Includes urban Indian organizations as entities eligible for funding from the Secretary for such programs. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the IHS, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations, to establish programs involving treatment for both victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Directs the Secretary to provide funding to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations, or make appropriate contracts or grants, for research on the incidence and prevalence of behavioral health problems among Indians served by the IHS or such tribes or organizations. Extends through FY 2012 the authorization of appropriations for title VII (behavioral health programs) of the Act. Requires the President to include in required annual reports to Congress reports on various programs established under this Act. Requires regulations implementing amendments to the Act to be negotiated by a rulemaking committee made up of representatives of the Federal Government, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations. Directs the Secretary to prepare and submit to Congress a plan explaining the manner and schedule by which the Secretary will implement provisions of the Act, as amended by this Act. Directs the Secretary to provide services and benefits for Indians in Montana in a manner consistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in McNabb for McNabb v. Bowen. Directs the IHS to provide health care services during a moratorium period in which certain service eligibility criteria are being developed. Establishes the National Bipartisan Indian Health Care Entitlement Commission to: (1) establish a Study Committee to study the extent of Indian health services needs; (2) review and analyze the Study Committee's report; and (3) make recommendations to Congress for providing health services for Indians as an entitlement. Authorizes appropriations for the Commission. Extends through FY 2012 the authorization of appropriations under title VIII (miscellaneous) of the Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 3372 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 1999
Safe and Effective Breast Pumps Act - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services: (1) to put into effect a performance standard for breast pumps irrespective of the class to which the breast pumps have been classified under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; (2) in establishing such standard, to identify those pumps appropriate for use on a regular basis in a place of employment based on the efficiency and effectiveness of the pump and on sanitation factors related to communal use; and (3) acting through the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, to issue a compliance policy guide which will assure that women who want to breastfeed a child are given full and complete information respecting breast pumps.
Bill· SS. 1905 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Lyme Disease Initiative of 1999 - Directs the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, of Agriculture, of the Interior, and of Defense to: (1) establish specified detection test, improved surveillance and reporting system, and prevention goals to provide for a reduction in the incidence and prevalence of Lyme disease and related tick borne infectious diseases; and (2) establish a five-year plan of activities toward achieving those goals, and carry them out. Establishes the Lyme Disease Taskforce to advise the Secretaries with respect to achieving such goals. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 1918 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Medicare for Individuals with Terminal Illnesses Act of 1999 - Amends title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to entitle to hospital insurance benefits under part A (Hospital Insurance) of SSA title XVIII (Medicare) each individual with a medically determinable physical impairment expected to result in the individual's death within the next 24 months who would otherwise be entitled to such Medicare hospital benefits but for the requirement that the individual be entitled to disability insurance benefits or other specified benefits by reason of such disability.
Bill· HRH.R. 3325 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Melissa Froelich Medicaid Congenital Heart Defect Waiver Act of 1999 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, by waiver, to provide that an approved State Medicaid plan may include as medical assistance specified items and services related to the treatment of certain individuals diagnosed at birth with one or more congenital heart defects which require surgical intervention, if the State provides certain satisfactory assurances to the Secretary, including that the State, under such waiver, will be the secondary payor of the medical assistance.
Bill· HRH.R. 3319 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Prescription Drug Benefit Equity Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act (regarding group health plans, health insurance issuers offering group insurance, and health insurance offered in the individual market), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (regarding group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group insurance), the Internal Revenue Code (regarding group health plans), title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) (regarding Medicare+Choice plans, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), competitive medical plans, Medicare supplemental health insurance policies (Medigap), and Medicare select policies), SSA title XIX (Medicaid) (regarding State plans), and provisions of the U.S. Code relating to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (regarding contracting with carriers offering health benefits plans) to require that, if mail-order prescription drug coverage is provided, non-mail-order prescription drug coverage must also be provided.
Bill· HRH.R. 3328 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Amends the Public Health Service Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to require group health plans and health insurance issuers offering coverage in connection with such plans to provide coverage for scalp hair prostheses for participants or beneficiaries who have scalp hair loss as a result of alopecia areata if the attending physician certifies the medical necessity of that proposed course of rehabilitative treatment. Provides that such coverage is not subject to dollar limits, deductibles, and coinsurance provisions that are less favorable than those for other prosthesis coverage under the plan, but authorizes the plan or issuer to pay for only 80 percent of the customary and usual costs of the prosthesis exclusive of any deductible. Amends the Public Health Service Act to apply this Act's requirement to health insurance coverage offered by a health insurance issuer in the individual market in the same manner as it applies to coverage offered in the small or large group market.
Bill· HRH.R. 3301 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Children's Health Research and Prevention Amendments of 1999 - Title I: Revision and Extension of Programs - Subtitle A: Pediatric Research Initiative - Pediatric Research Initiative Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act (the Act) to mandate establishment, in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), of a Pediatric Research Initiative. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Secretary) to make available within the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development enhanced support for extramural activities relating to the training and career development of pediatric researchers. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Other Programs - Extends through FY 2003 programs under the Act for: (1) immunizations; (2) screenings, referrals, and education regarding lead poisoning; and (3) the prevention and control of injuries, including traumatic brain injury. Title II: Children's Health Research and Prevention Activities - Subtitle A: Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Treatment Regarding Hearing Loss in Infants - Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999 - Mandates grants or cooperative agreements to: (1) develop statewide newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention programs and systems; and (2) provide technical assistance to State agencies to complement an intramural program and to conduct applied research related to newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention programs and systems. Requires NIH to continue a program of research and development on the efficacy of new screening techniques and technology. Mandates Federal coordination and collaboration with State and local agencies, consumer groups, national medical, health, and education specialty organizations, deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals and their families, qualified professional personnel, and related commercial industries. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Autism - Chapter 1: Surveillance and Research Regarding Prevalence and Pattern of Autism - Autism Statistics, Surveillance, Research, and Epidemiology Act of 1999 (ASSURE) - Authorizes grants and cooperative agreements for the collection, analysis, and reporting of data on autism and pervasive developmental disabilities. Mandates establishment, through grants or cooperative agreements, of three to five centers of excellence in autism and pervasive developmental disabilities epidemiology to collect and analyze autism information. Requires that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) serve as the coordinating agency for autism and pervasive development disabilities surveillance through the establishment of a clearinghouse for data generated from the monitoring programs created under this chapter. Mandates establishment of an Advisory Committee for Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology Research. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 2: Expansion, Intensification, and Coordination of Activities of Department of Health and Human Services With Respect to Autism - Advancement in Pediatric Autism Research Act of 1999 - Directs the NIH Director to expand, intensify, and coordinate the activities of NIH with respect to autism. Requires such Director, among other things, to make awards of grants or contracts to public or nonprofit entities for centers of excellence regarding research on autism. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to make awards of grants and cooperative agreements for the collection, analysis, and reporting of data on autism and pervasive developmental disabilities. Directs the Secretary to establish no less than three regional centers of excellence in autism and pervasive developmental disabilities epidemiology to collect and analyze information on the number, incidence, correlates, and causes of autism and related developmental disabilities. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a clearinghouse within the CDCP for the collection and storage of such data; and (2) coordinate the Federal response to requests for assistance regarding potential or alleged autism or developmental disability clusters. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to establish a program to provide information and education on autism to health professionals and the general public. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish an Autism Coordinating Committee to coordinate HHS efforts concerning autism. Subtitle C: Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness - Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act - Directs the Secretary to provide coordination and assistance to regional poison control centers for the establishment of a nationwide toll-free telephone number to be used to access such centers. Authorizes appropriations. Mandates a national media campaign to educate the public about poison prevention and the availability of local poison control resources and to conduct advertising campaigns concerning the nationwide toll-free number. Authorizes appropriations. Mandates grants for certified regional poison control centers to achieve financial stability and to prevent, and provide treatment recommendations for, poisoning. Mandates other grant uses. Sets forth center certification requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Birth Defects Prevention Activities - Chapter 1: Folic Acid - Folic Acid Promotion and Birth Defects Prevention Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary to carry out a program, directly or through grants or contracts, for professional and public education and training, research, and epidemiological activities regarding folic acid and birth defects. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 2: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities - Establishes a National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities to: (1) collect, analyze, and make available date on birth defects; (2) conduct applied epidemiological research on prevention of such defects; and (3) provide birth defect prevention information and education to the public. Transfers to such Center all activities, budgets, and personnel of the National Center for Environmental Health that relate to birth defects, folic acid, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, child development, newborn screening, autism, fragile X syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, pediatric genetics, and disability prevention. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Safe Motherhood Monitoring and Prevention Research - Safe Motherhood Monitoring and Prevention Research Act - Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) establish a national monitoring and surveillance program to identify and promote the investigation of deaths and severe complications that occur during pregnancy; (2) expand the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System to provide surveillance and collect data in each State; and (3) expand the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program to provide technical support, financial assistance, or the time-limited assignment of senior epidemiologists to maternal and child health programs in each State. Authorizes appropriations. Permits the Secretary to carry out specified activities to promote safe motherhood. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: Pregnant Mothers and Infants Health Promotion - Pregnant Mothers and Infants Health Protection Act - Requires the Secretary to: (1) collect, analyze, and make available data on prenatal smoking and alcohol and illegal drug usage; (2) conduct applied epidemiological research on the prevention of prenatal and postnatal smoking and alcohol and illegal drug usage; (3) support, conduct, and evaluate the effectiveness of educational and cessation programs; and (4) provide information and education to the public on the prevention and implications of prenatal and postnatal smoking and alcohol and illegal drug usage. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle G: Utilization of Preventive Health Services - Directs the Secretary to make grants to public or nonprofit entities to establish and operate regional centers for identifying particular populations of patients and to facilitate the appropriate utilization of preventive health services by such patients. Requires the Secretary to give priority to various populations of infants, young children, and their mothers. Requires the evaluation of strategies developed through grant funding. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle H: Research and Development Regarding Fragile X - Fragile X Research Breakthrough Act of 1999 - Requires the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to: (1) expand, intensify, and coordinate the Institute's activities respecting research on the mental retardation disease known as fragile X; and (2) make grants to, and enter into contracts with, public or private nonprofit entities for the development and operation of at least three centers for fragile X research. Requires each center to conduct basic and clinical research, which may include clinical trials of new or improved diagnostic methods and drugs or other treatment approaches. Allows such centers to use grant funds to provide fees to individuals serving as subjects in clinical trials. Requires the Director to provide for the coordination of the centers' activities, including the exchange of information. Requires each center to use the facilities of a single institution, or be formed from a consortium of cooperating institutions. Allows support to be provided to a center for up to five years, with authorized extensions. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary to enter into contracts with qualified health professionals who agree to conduct fragile X research in return for repayment (up to $35,000 for each year of service) of such health professionals' educational loans. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle I: Children and Epilepsy - Directs the Secretary, through grants to or contracts with public or nonprofit private entities, to develop and implement public health surveillance, education, research, and intervention strategies to improve the lives of persons with epilepsy, with a particular emphasis on children. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to State and local governments for carrying out demonstration projects to improve access to health and other services regarding seizures to encourage early detection and treatment in children and others residing in medically underserved areas. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle J: Asthma Treatment Services for Children - Children's Asthma Relief Act of 1999 - Directs the Secretary to award grants to eligible entities to establish an asthma treatment grants program providing comprehensive asthma services for children and other individuals. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to encourage States to implement plans to carry out activities to assist children with asthma in accordance with the guidelines of the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (Institute). Provides that if a State child health plan under title XXI (Children's Health Insurance) of the Social Security Act provides for such activities to the Secretary's satisfaction, the Secretary shall make a grant to assist the State in carrying them out. Sets forth certain matching funds requirements. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Act to include, within the preventive health and health services block grant, any system for reducing asthma and asthma-related illnesses, especially with regard to children, through urban cockroach pest management in public facilities through a combination of biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools that minimizes economic, health, and environmental risks. Requires the Institute Director to: (1) identify all Federal programs carrying out asthma-related activities; (2) develop a Federal plan for responding to asthma; and (3) submit recommendations to Congress on ways to strengthen and improve Federal coordination of such activities. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the CDCP Director to: (1) conduct local asthma surveillance activities to collect data on the prevalence and severity of asthma and the quality of asthma management; and (2) compile and publish annually data on the prevalence of children suffering from asthma in each State and the childhood mortality rate associated with asthma nationally and in each State. Subtitle K: Juvenile Arthritis and Related Conditions - Requires the Directors of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases to expand and intensify their respective programs of research and related activities concerning juvenile arthritis and related conditions. Requires the NIH Director, through a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract, to establish an information resource center on arthritis and related conditions. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle L: Childhood Skeletal Malignancies - Directs the Secretary to: (1) study environmental and other risk factors for childhood skeletal cancers; (2) carry out projects to improve outcomes among children with such cancers and related secondary conditions; and (3) ensure that such activities are coordinated with other Public Health Service activities focused on childhood cancers and limb loss. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle M: Reducing Burden of Diabetes Among Children and Youth - Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop a system to collect data on juvenile diabetes, including its incidence and prevalence, and to establish a national database for such data; (2) conduct or support long-term epidemiological studies concerning juvenile diabetes; (3) implement a national public health effort to address type 2 diabetes in youth; (4) support regional clinical centers for the cure of juvenile diabetes; and (5) implement a national effort to develop a vaccine for type 1 diabetes. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle N: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the NIH Director to report to Congress concerning research activities with respect to rare diseases in children.
Bill· HRH.R. 3302 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
State's and Parental Rights Improvement Act of 2000 - Prohibits, notwithstanding any other provision of law, considering a State to have violated any term or condition of any Federal health care grant-in-aid program by requiring the consent or notification of a parent or guardian regarding dispensing a prescription drug or device (or any class of drugs or devices specified by the State) to a minor.
Bill· HRH.R. 3300 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Doctors' Bill of Rights Act of 1999 - Outlines specified obligations of carriers, fiscal intermediaries, the Medicare Integrity Program under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) with regard to physician rights within the context of the following matters and examples: (1) education (additional HHS educational outreach for physicians for Medicare coverage areas with the most frequent billing errors); (2) information (restoration of the toll-free telephone hotline at HCFA to permit physicians to call for information and questions on Medicare); (3) overpayments (HHS authorized repayment of overpayments within three months without penalty or interest); and (4) suspected fraud or wrongdoing (HHS Office of Inspector General must follow specified guidelines regarding arrest). Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits HCFA from implementing any new evaluation and management (E&M) guidelines under Medicare unless it has: (1) provided for an assessment of the proposed guidelines by physicians; (2) established a plan that contains specific goals for improving participation of physicians; (3) carried out a minimum of four described pilot projects in at least four different HCFA regions to test such guidelines; and (4) found that specified objectives for E&M guidelines will be met in the implementation of such guidelines. Requires each pilot project to study the effect of E&M guidelines on physician practices and patient and physician satisfaction.
Bill· HRH.R. 3332 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Medicaid Children with Special Health Care Needs Improvement Act of 1999 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to revise the special rules applying to the exemption of certain children with special needs from the State option to require Medicaid patients to use managed care. Requires such children to meet the State (instead of the Federal) definition of eligibility for special needs services or programs. Prescribes special requirements for a State to meet when applying to waive this exemption.
Bill· HRH.R. 3317 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Rx for Abuse Act - Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to authorize grants to eligible State and local entities for: (1) the strengthening of State and local health care system response to domestic violence by building the capacity of health care professionals and staff to identify, address, and prevent domestic violence; and (2) local demonstration projects to design and implement comprehensive statewide and local strategies to improve health care personnel response to the treatment and prevention of domestic violence. Conditions such assistance upon certification by the State health department that State laws, policies, and practices do not require health care personnel to report incidents of domestic violence against adult victims to law enforcement officials without patient consent. Authorizes appropriations.
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 226 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Veterans Health Fairness Resolution - Expresses the sense of Congress that the President's budget for Department of Veterans Affairs health care for FY 2001 and thereafter should include amounts necessary to ensure that all veterans, including those in priority group 7, are able to benefit from the broad array of Department health care services, including preventive care, primary care, and inpatient and outpatient services.
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 225 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 10 November 1999
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the United States has a responsibility toward its veterans; (2) future congressional budget resolutions and laws making appropriations to the Veterans Health Administration should reflect the ongoing need for quality health care; and (3) the congressional committees of jurisdiction should act accordingly.
Bill· SS. 1895 (106th)open
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
Medicare Preservation and Improvement Act of 1999 - Title I: Establishment of Medicare Competitive Premium System - Amends the Social Security Act to add a new title XXII (Medicare Competitive Premium System), outlining new parts A (Medicare Plans; Combining Parts A and B), B (Competitive Premium System), C (Medicare Board Charter), D (Unified Medicare Trust Fund); and E (Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) Duties and Responsibilities). Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Special Protections - Subtitle A: Protection Package for Certain Areas - Places a limitation on beneficiary obligations in certain areas and provides protection for areas with no contract with a private entity in effect. Subtitle B: Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary Protection Package - Provides for Medicare plans for low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Title III: Medicare Beneficiary Outreach and Education - Creates the Medicare Board to establish a Medicare beneficiary education program to provide timely, readable, accurate, and understandable information to Medicare beneficiaries regarding Medicare plan options. Directs the Medicare Board to establish Medicare Consumer Coalitions to inform Medicare beneficiaries about enrollment in Medicare plans. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Miscellaneous - Makes specified conforming amendments. Provides that, beginning on January 1, 2003, only Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the HCFA-sponsored standard plan established under new part E above may purchase or renew Medicare supplemental insurance policies.
Bill· SS. 1897 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
NIH Office of Autoimmune Diseases Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the Office of Autoimmune Diseases (Office). Requires the Director of such Office to: (1) recommend an agenda for conducting and supporting research on autoimmune diseases through the national research institutes; (2) promote the sufficient allocation of NIH resources for such research; (3) prepare a biennial report on such research activities; (4) serve as principal advisor on autoimmune diseases to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Assistant Secretary for Health, and the Director of NIH; and (5) provide advice to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, and other relevant agencies. Instructs the Director of NIH to ensure that: (1) an Autoimmune Disease Coordinating Committee is in operation to assist the Director of the Office; and (2) the Committee includes liaison members from other Federal health agencies. Requires a report from the Comptroller General to the appropriate congressional committees concerning Office effectiveness in promoting advancements in autoimmune diseases research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2000 through 2002.
Bill· SS. 1890 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
Medicare Geographic Reclassifications Equity Act of 1999 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that geographic reclassifications of hospitals from one urban area to another urban area produce no reduced wage indexes for the urban area in which the hospital was originally classified.
Bill· HRH.R. 3289 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
Requires the Secretary of Defense to: (1) provide to a named individual for a specified period the same medical care and in-home nursing services under the TRICARE Program that have been provided to her by the Secretary since 1994; and (2) reimburse Humana Military Healthcare Services, Inc., for the cost of such care and services provided to her under the TRICARE Program during a certain period.
Bill· HRH.R. 3286 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
Amends the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2000 to provide that any person who received custodial care provided by and financed under the military health care system's case management program during FY 1999 shall continue to be eligible for such care during the period beginning on July 1, 1999, and ending on September 30, 2000.
Bill· HRH.R. 3287 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Act of 1999 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to include within certain demonstration projects regarding interpersonal violence within families and among acquaintances projects in which, on a 24-hour basis and with respect to victims of sexual assault and such violence who present at hospital emergency rooms and other sites offering victims' services, nurses and other trained health professionals: (1) identify victims of such violence; (2) collect physical evidence that may be of use in judicial proceedings regarding the violence; and (3) provide counseling on such violence and appropriate referrals. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out a program to train nurses and other health care professionals to provide such services. Applies this Act to existing demonstration projects.
Bill· HRH.R. 3271 (106th)referred
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 1999
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to increase from 17 to 19 the membership of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), staggering the initial terms of the additional members, and to include on MedPAC individuals with national recognition for their expertise in manufacturing and distributing finished medical goods.