Resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should be commended for implementing the Medicare demonstration project to assess the quality of care of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and should extend the project through 2006, subject to any appropriate modifications.
Urges the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to: (1) extend through 2006 the Medicare demonstration project to assess the quality of care for patients undergoing chemotherapy by collecting data on the impact of chemotherapy on cancer patients' quality of life; (2) thoroughly review the merits of the demonstration project; and (3) use the results of the project to develop a system to pay for chemotherapy services under Medicare based on the quality of care delivered and the resources used to deliver that care.
Calls for: (1) the demonstration project to be modified to accumulate even more useful data relating to quality of care; and (2) the continuation of payments to physicians for participation in the demonstration project to facilitate continued access of Medicare patients with cancer to chemotherapy treatment of the highest quality.
The title of the measure was amended. Agreed to without objection.