E&C Health Subcommittee Marks Up Health Care Efficiency Through Flexibility Act to Expand Reporting Options for ACOs
WASHINGTON —Today, Congressman Vern Buchanan, Vice Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chair of the Health Subcommittee, announced that his bipartisan Healthcare Efficiency Through Flexibility Act (H.R. 5347) to improve digital reporting for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) was marked up by the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.
“I want to thank Chairman Guthrie and Health Subcommittee Chairman Griffith for holding this important markup and for advancing my bipartisan bill,” said Buchanan. “The Healthcare Efficiency Through Flexibility Act offers a commonsense path forward to ease the burden of new reporting mandates on value-based Medicare providers. By expanding reporting options for Accountable Care Organizations, my bipartisan bill will reduce excess regulatory burden on ACOs and allow providers to focus on delivering high-quality, value-based care. As Chair of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, I’m focused on advancing solutions that improve care, lower costs and make life easier for patients and doctors alike.”
Buchanan’s Healthcare Efficiency Through Flexibility Act allows for a wider variety of quality measure reporting methods for ACOs through 2029, including the currently in-place electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs). The bill also clarifies data completeness requirements to ease regulatory burdens for ACOs and creates a digital quality measure pilot program.
The Healthcare Efficiency Through Flexibility Act is cosponsored by Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.). It is supported by The National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS), America’s Physician Groups, Epic Systems, Oracle Health, Accountable for Health and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
In addition to being the Vice Chairman and most senior Republican on the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, Buchanan is also the Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, which has broad jurisdiction over traditional Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit program and Medicare Advantage.
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