§1396w–5 Addressing Health Care Disparities

Summary

The Secretary of Health and Human Services must find and test ways to collect and study data, working with existing quality reporting programs under this subchapter and subchapter XXI, so the government can track differences in health care by race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability. The work must protect patient privacy, keep data collection and reporting from being a heavy burden on States, providers, and health plans, and improve program data on those categories. Not later than 18 months after March 23, 2010, the Secretary must send Congress a report that names specific methods to identify, collect, and analyze disparity data and gives recommendations for the best ways to report HEDIS and other national quality measures. Not later than 24 months after March 23, 2010, the Secretary must put those methods into practice. Starting 4 years after March 23, 2010, and every 4 years after that, the Secretary must send Congress another report with recommendations to better identify health care disparities based on the data collected.