Sec. 4. Health information technology rating program
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Subtitle A of title XXX of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300jj–11 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the TRUST IT Act , the Secretary shall recognize a development council made up of one representative from each of the accredited certifying bodies accredited by the Office and the testing laboratories accredited under section 13201(b) of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act ( 42 U.S.C. 17911(b) ), and one representative from the Office of the National Coordinator, for the purpose of establishing a health information technology rating program to evaluate, based on the methodology established under subsection (d), the field performance of certified health information technology with regard to interoperability, usability, and security, in accordance with the following:
Certified health information technology shall receive a 1 star rating if an authorized certification body determines that the health information technology is less than satisfactory. Certified health information technology shall receive a 2 star rating if the authorized certification body determines that the health information technology is satisfactory. Certified health information technology shall receive a 3 star rating if the authorized certification body determines that the health information technology is excellent.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the TRUST IT Act , the Secretary, in consultation with the development council described in subsection (a), shall convene stakeholders as described in paragraph
(2)for the purpose of developing the reporting criteria in accordance with paragraph (3). The reporting criteria under this subsection shall be developed through a public, transparent process that reflects input from relevant stakeholders, including— primary care and specialty care health care professionals; hospitals; health information technology vendors; advocates for patients or consumers; data sharing networks, such as health information exchanges; authorized certification bodies and testing laboratories; security experts; and other entities or persons, as the Secretary, in consultation with the development council, determines appropriate. The reporting criteria developed under this subsection— may include measures that reflect categories including, with respect to the technology— security; usability and user-centered design; interoperability; conformance to certification testing; and other categories as appropriate to measure the performance of health information technology; may include measures such as— enabling the user to order and view the results of laboratory tests, imaging tests, and other diagnostic tests; submitting, editing, and retrieving data from registries for quality of care, such as physician registries; accessing and exchanging information and data from medical devices; accessing and exchanging information and data held by Federal, State, and local agencies and other applicable entities useful to a health care provider or other applicable user in the furtherance of patient care; accessing and exchanging information from other health care providers or applicable users; accessing and exchanging patient generated information; providing the patient with a complete copy of their electronic record in a computable format; and other appropriate functionalities; and shall be designed to ensure that small and start up vendors of health information technology are not unduly disadvantaged by the reporting criteria or rating scale methodology. The Secretary shall conduct a 60-day public comment period during which any member of the public may provide comments on the proposed reporting criteria and the methodology for authorized certification bodies to use in determining the star ratings. The Secretary shall provide timely responses to such comments before issuing a final rule. After the reporting criteria have been established, the Secretary, in consultation with the development council, may convene stakeholders and conduct a public reporting period for the purpose of modifying the reporting criteria developed in this subsection and methodology for determining the star ratings proposed under subsection (d). In promulgating final rules under this subsection, including modifications to such rules under paragraph (5), the Secretary may accept or reject the recommendations of the development council, but may not promulgate a rule that does not represent a complete recommendation of such council. The Secretary, in consultation with the development council, shall establish a process for authorized certification bodies to collect and verify confidential feedback from— health care providers, patients, and other users of health information technology on the usability, security, and interoperability of health information technology products; and vendors or other entities offering health information technology on practices of health information technology users that may inhibit interoperability. The Secretary, in consultation with the development council, shall develop a methodology for authorized certification bodies to use to calculate the star ratings for certified health information technology described in subsection (a). The methodology shall use the reporting criteria developed in subsection
(b)and confidential feedback collected under subsection (c). Each vendor of, or entity offering, health information technology that is certified under section 3001(c)(5) of the Public Health Service Act after the date of enactment of the TRUST IT Act shall report on the criteria developed under subsection
(b)on the date that is 2 years after such certification and every 2 years thereafter. Each vendor of, or entity offering, health information technology that receives a 1 star rating shall take action, through a corrective action plan developed with the authorized certification body and approved by the Secretary, to improve the health information technology rating within a timeframe that the Secretary determines appropriate. The Secretary may assess fines on any vendor of, or entity offering, certified health information technology and decertify health information technology in accordance with paragraphs
(2)and (3). The Secretary may assess fines against such a vendor or entity if the vendor or entity— does not meet the requirements of the corrective action plan described in subsection (f); does not improve from a one star rating in accordance with subsection (f); or does not report on criteria in accordance with subsection (e). Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the TRUST IT Act , the Secretary shall establish fine amounts for violations of clauses (i), (ii), and
(iii)of subparagraph (A). In setting such amounts, the Secretary shall consider the amounts necessary to reimburse, in part or in full, the users of decertified health information technology for the amounts invested in purchasing new certified health information technology, as applicable. The Secretary may decertify health information technology if— the health information technology does not improve from a one star rating within the timeframe established under subsection (f); does not report on criteria in accordance with subsection (b); or in other circumstances, as the Secretary determines appropriate. The Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report every 4 years on the rating scale methodology developed pursuant to subsection (b), providing observations on the appropriateness of the current methodology and recommendations for changes to the methodology. The Secretary shall publish the star rating for each certified health information technology and methodology to determine the star rating on the Internet website of the Office of the National Coordinator. Following the biannual reporting described in subsection (e), authorized certified bodies shall have 30 days to calculate and submit updated ratings to the Secretary, and updated ratings shall be published on such Internet website not later than 30 days following such submission. The Secretary shall establish a revolving user compensation fund in which amounts collected under subsection (g)(2) shall be directed and used to assist users of health information technology that are decertified under subsection (g)(3) to reimburse users for the costs of purchasing new certified health information technology products. The Secretary shall, on a case-by-case basis, exempt an eligible professional, eligible hospital, or critical access hospital from the application of the payment adjustment under the Meaningful Use of Certified EHR Technology program under sections 1848(a)(7)(A), 1886(b)(3)(B)(ix)(I), and 1814(l)(4), respectively, of the Social Security Act for 1 year if the eligible professional, eligible hospital, or critical access hospital uses health information technology that becomes decertified under subsection (g)(3), to help such eligible professional, eligible hospital, or critical access hospital transition to a new certified electronic health record technology. The Secretary shall establish a process whereby any vendor of, or entity offering, health information technology can appeal— the health information technology product’s star rating; or the Secretary’s decision to decertify a product, as applicable. .
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- 42 USC 300jj–11
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