text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Medicare Chronic Care Practice 
  Research Network Act of 2007''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      The Congress makes the following findings:
              (1) Two-thirds of all Medicare spending involves 
          beneficiaries living with 5 or more chronic conditions.
              (2) Eighty-four percent of people ages 65 to 70 live with 
          at least one of the following chronic conditions: hypertension, 
          heart disease or heart attack, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, or 
          high cholesterol.
              (3) Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions are more 
          likely to undergo duplicative tests, receive contradictory 
          information from their healthcare providers, experience adverse 
          responses to medications, and undergo hospital visits that 
          could have been prevented.
              (4) Both traditional fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare 
          Advantage are not currently configured to meet the unique needs 
          of beneficiaries living with multiple chronic conditions.
              (5) Care for these patients is typically fragmented and 
          delivered by multiple providers working at multiple sites.
              (6) Medicare has implemented a number of demonstration 
          projects focused on ways to improve care for beneficiaries with 
          multiple chronic conditions, yet there has been limited 
          translation of evidence-based results to the wider chronic care 
          community in a timely manner.
              (7) As the population of Medicare beneficiaries living with 
          multiple chronic conditions continues to increase, the Centers 
          for Medicare & Medicaid Services should seek more effective 
          actions to test various care models, analyze the outcomes, and 
          implement evidence-based best practices as soon as possible.
              (8) The United States Government should partner with 
          qualified and experienced health care institutions already 
          serving these beneficiaries to effectively and efficiently 
          develop, evaluate, and translate improvements in coordinated 
          care for them. Generating this information and supporting its 
          translation into clinical practice will serve beneficiaries far 
          more effectively.
  
  SEC. 3. MEDICARE CHRONIC CARE PRACTICE RESEARCH NETWORK TO DEVELOP AND 
                APPLY IMPROVED PRACTICES IN COORDINATED CARE FOR MEDICARE 
                BENEFICIARIES WITH MULTIPLE, CHRONIC CONDITIONS.
  
      (a) Establishment.--
              (1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
          the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 
          Services (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') 
          shall establish in accordance with this section a Medicare 
          Chronic Care Practice Research Network (in this section 
          referred to as the ``Network'').
              (2) Duration.--The initial period of the Network shall be 
          not less than five years. The Secretary may extend or make 
          permanent the Network if the Network's performance demonstrates 
          benefit to the Medicare program.
      (b) Purpose and Duties of Network.--
              (1) Purpose.--The purpose of the Network is to enable 
          highly qualified providers, including providers participating 
          in the Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration under section 
          1807 of the Social Security Act (in this section referred to as 
          the ``MCCD''), to form a stable and flexible research 
          infrastructure that accelerates the development and deployment 
          of evidence-based chronic care management practices for 
          Medicare beneficiaries with multiple, chronic conditions.
              (2) Duties of the network.--
                      (A) In general.--The Network shall develop and 
                  evaluate evidence-based chronic care management 
                  practices for Medicare beneficiaries who have two or 
                  more chronic illnesses, with a focus on such 
                  beneficiaries who are provided benefits under the 
                  Medicare fee-for-service program and whose care is most 
                  costly.
                      (B) Specific duties.--The Network shall--
                              (i) research, design, implement, test, and 
                          validate specific interventions designed to 
                          improve care management for Medicare 
                          beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions; 
                          and
                              (ii) provide a reproducible, reliable, and 
                          scalable framework to standardize and translate 
                          best practices for all Medicare beneficiaries.
              (3) Financial support.--The Network shall provide financial 
          support in the following areas:
                      (A) Collaboration.--Support of collaboration and 
                  networking, including conference calls, meetings, and 
                  other forms of communication between and among Network 
                  project sites, of publication of guidelines and 
                  findings, and of development and dissemination of 
                  information on proven, common care management 
                  practices.
                      (B) Infrastructure.--Support of research and 
                  infrastructure for Network project sites, which may be 
                  based upon enrollment size and success of such sites in 
                  realizing targets and compliance with data submission 
                  requirements.
                      (C) Patient recruitment and care management.--
                  Support of patient recruitment and care management at 
                  Network project sites for the delivery of specific 
                  services and ongoing testing of improvements to large 
                  patient panels.
                      (D) Evaluation.--Support of internal and external 
                  evaluation activities, including evaluation activities 
                  conducted at individual Network project sites and the 
                  Network.
              (4) Establishment of target enrollment numbers.--The 
          Secretary and the Network shall jointly develop, based on 
          demographics and previous history, target enrollment numbers 
          for each Network project site.
      (c) Board of Directors.--
              (1) Membership.--
                      (A) In general.--The Network shall have a Board of 
                  Directors (in this section referred to as the 
                  ``Board'') composed of the following:
                              (i) CMS administrator.--The Administrator 
                          of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
                          Services, who shall serve as chairman of the 
                          Board and head of the Network.
                              (ii) Ex officio members.--
                                      (I) The Director of the Agency for 
                                  Health Research and Quality.
                                      (II) The Director of the National 
                                  Institute on Aging.
                                      (III) Representatives of other 
                                  Federal health care and research agency 
                                  officials, as selected by the 
                                  Secretary.
                              (iii) Appointed members.--Members appointed 
                          under subparagraph (B).
                      (B) Appointed members.--
                              (i) Initial appointment.--The Secretary 
                          shall appoint at least 8 individuals to serve 
                          on the Board, including one individual 
                          representing each MCCD site.
                              (ii) Additional members.--The Secretary may 
                          appoint additional members to the Board to the 
                          extent the Secretary determines, including 
                          individuals who represent Network project sites 
                          not otherwise represented under clause (i).
                              (iii) Term.--The term of office of each 
                          member of the Board appointed under this 
                          subparagraph shall be five years.
                      (C) Vacancy.--Any vacancy in the membership of the 
                  Board--
                              (i) shall not affect the power of the 
                          remaining members to execute the duties of the 
                          Board; and
                              (ii) shall be filled by appointment by the 
                          Secretary.
              (2) Project evaluations.--The Board shall provide for both 
          an internal and external evaluation of each Network project 
          site.
              (3) Initial meeting.--Not later than 60 days after the date 
          members are first appointed under paragraph (1)(B), the 
          Secretary shall convene a meeting of the members of the Board 
          to--
                      (A) initiate the Network; and
                      (B) begin the planning phase of the Network.
      (d) Biennial Reports.--
              (1) Congressional reports.--Beginning not later than 2 
          years after the date of the establishment of the Network, the 
          Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of 
          Congress biennial reports on the Network. Each report shall 
          include at least the following:
                      (A) A report on progress made toward developing an 
                  efficient and effective research infrastructure capable 
                  of robustly testing new interventions and models of 
                  care for chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries in a 
                  timely manner.
                      (B) An evaluation of the overall quality, 
                  satisfaction, and cost effectiveness of interventions 
                  tested.
                      (C) An evaluation of the capability of the Network 
                  to define and test specifications needed to deploy 
                  successful interventions on a large geographic or 
                  nationwide scale without loss of effectiveness.
                      (D) A description of benefits to the Medicare 
                  program resulting from increased collaboration and 
                  partnership between Network sites.
                      (E) Any other information regarding the Network 
                  that the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
              (2) Public reports on care models.--Every two years, the 
          Network shall develop and the Secretary shall issue a public 
          report of recommended practices and guidelines for chronic care 
          that summarizes the care models the Network has found to be 
          most effective in managing Medicare beneficiaries with 
          multiple, chronic problems.
      (e) Waiver.--The Secretary shall waive such provisions of title 
  XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) as may be 
  necessary for the Network to conduct activities under this section.
      (f) Funding.--There are authorized to be appropriated from the 
  Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund under section 1817 of the Social 
  Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i) and from the Federal Supplementary 
  Medical Insurance Trust Fund under section 1841 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
  1395t), in such proportions as the Secretary determines to be 
  appropriate, $60,000,000. Such amount shall be available to carry out 
  this section during a 5-fiscal-year period.
      (g) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
              (1) Medicare program.--The term ``Medicare program'' means 
          the programs under title XVIII of the Social Security Act.
              (2) Network project site.--The term ``Network project 
          site'' means the site of a chronic care management program 
          conducted under the authority of the Network.
target: Medicare Chronic Care Practice Research Network Act of 2007 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a Medicare Chronic Care Practice Research Network to develop and evaluate evidence-based chronic care management for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple, chronic conditions, with a focus on beneficiaries under the Medicare fee-for-service program whose care is most costly.
feat_title: To establish a Medicare Chronic Care Practice Research Network to develop and apply improved practices in care management for Medicare beneficiaries with multiple, chronic conditions.