(NAHQ: Glenview, IL) -- As health reform measures make their way through Congress, with the House of Representatives narrowly passing a heath reform bill earlier this month, the issues of universal coverage, cost, and private vs. public delivery have been at the forefront of the discussion. The major bills currently in play have included critical provisions addressing a host of areas, including improving quality and health care system performance.

Current health care reform measures

There are currently three Congressional vehicles for health care reform:

1. The House Leadership Bill—The Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962)
2. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Bill—Affordable Health Choices Act
3. The Senate Finance Committee Bill—America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009 (S. 1796)

With the House narrowly voting to approve the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the measure now moves to the Senate, where support is less certain. The Senate must now pass its own version of the health care bill, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada recently signaled uncertainty over whether that will happen this year.

Quality provisions in health care reform measures

Below are a few highlights of the quality provisions in these three key health care reform bills. A complete side-by-side analysis of the three proposals is available on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s web site.

H.R. 3962: The House Leadership Bill

• Establishes a Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to conduct, support, and synthesize research on outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of health care services and procedures
• Establishes the Center for Quality Improvement to identify, develop, evaluate, and implement best practices in the delivery of health care services
• Develops national priorities for performance improvement and quality measures for the delivery of health care services
• Requires disclosure of financial relationships between health entities, including physicians, hospitals, pharmacists, and other providers, and manufacturers and distributors of covered drugs, devices, biologicals, and medical supplies

S. 1679: Senate HELP Committee Bill

• Develops a national quality improvement strategy that includes priorities to improve the delivery of health care services, patient health outcomes, and population health
• Publishes an annual national health care quality report card
• Develops quality measures that allow assessments of health outcomes; continuity and coordination of care; safety, effectiveness, and timeliness of care; health disparities; and appropriate use of health care resources
• Creates a Center for Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to conduct and support research on the effectiveness of health care services and procedures to provide providers and patients with information on the most effective therapies for preventing and treating health conditions
• Requires hospitals to report preventable readmission rates
• Creates a Patient Safety Research Center charged with identifying, evaluating, and disseminating information on best practices for improving health care quality

S. 1796: Senate Finance Committee Bill

• Establishes a nonprofit Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to identify research priorities and conduct research comparing the clinical effectiveness of medical treatments
• Encourages states to develop and test alternatives to the current civil litigation system as a way to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors
• Develops a national quality improvement strategy that includes priorities to improve the delivery of health care services, patient health outcomes, and population health