42 U.S.C. § 299b–6 — Coordination of Federal Government quality improvement efforts

(a) Requirement (1) In general. To avoid duplicate work and use federal money well, the Secretary, through the Director, must coordinate all federally funded research, evaluations, and demonstrations on health services research, quality measurement, and quality improvement. (2) Specific activities. Working with officials from all relevant agencies, the Director must build a process to: (A) Improve how agencies coordinate, set priorities, and share research findings and data on federal quality improvement, technology assessment, and health services research. (B) Strengthen the research information systems, including databases, that support federal health services research and quality improvement work. (C) Set clear goals for participating agencies to advance health services research and quality improvement. (D) Strengthen how federal quality improvement programs are managed. (b) Study by the Institute of Medicine (1) In general. To give Congress, HHS, and other departments an independent outside review of their quality oversight, improvement, and research programs, the Secretary must hire the Institute of Medicine to: (A) Describe and evaluate current quality improvement, research, and monitoring work — including an overview of health services research and quality improvement across all federal programs (especially Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP under Social Security Act titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI), and a summary of HHS's partnerships with private accreditation and quality organizations. (B) Identify options and recommend ways to make quality improvement programs more efficient and effective — including better coordination across Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP and health services research programs; strengthening patient choice by using modern quality-monitoring tools and sharing quality information; and improving the best programs while consolidating or eliminating duplicate work across agencies. (2) Requirements (A) In general. The Secretary must hire the Institute of Medicine to prepare: an overview report on HHS's Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP quality improvement programs within 12 months of December 6, 1999; and a final report with recommendations within 24 months of that date. (B) Reports. The Secretary must send these reports to the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees, and the House Ways and Means and Commerce Committees.