{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://paulsen.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=22&itemid=1854", "Paulsen, Kind, Marchant Introduce Legislation to Improve Patient Care and Streamline Hospital Regulations", "2016-10-17", "2016", "2016-10", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Erik Paulsen", "P000594", "paulsen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C.\u2013 Congressman Erik Paulsen (MN-03), Congressman Ron Kind (WI-03), and Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24) have introduced the bipartisan Hospital Outcomes Act to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries and streamline hospital payment programs based on best practices from around the country.\u00a0 Specifically, the Hospital Outcomes Act would replace the penalty-driven, flawed programs mandated for Medicarewith a single, comprehensive payment system that rewards positive outcomes.\r\n\r\n\t\u201cThe current payment programs at our hospitals are too complicated, overly burdensome, and ineffective,\u201d said Congressman Paulsen.\u201cThere are efforts are under way across the country, including in Minnesota, that are making the health care system more efficient and helping patients. We should take the lessons from what is working and apply them to the Medicare program, so that we can lower costs, improve outcomes, and reduce the administrative burden for hospitals and providers.\u201d\r\n\r\n\tThe bill is modeled after programs like The Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) Campaign in Minnesota, which has reduced avoidable hospital readmissions by nearly 20 percent and saved millions of dollars in avoided health care expenses. This work resulted in the campaign winning the 2013 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award.\r\n\r\n\tSeveral Minnesota health care organizations have praised the objectives of this legislation:\r\n\r\n\t\u201cMHA members appreciate Congressman Paulsen\u2019s hard work to improve health care through changes to the payment system that reward high-quality, low-cost providers,\u201d said Lawrence J. Massa, Minnesota Hospital Association president and CEO.\u201cWe look forward to working with the bipartisan sponsors of this legislation to advance these goals.\u201d\r\n\r\n\t\u201cA value-based payment policy incentivizes quality and efficiency in the health care system,\u201d said Michael Vale, 3M Health Care executive vice president. \u201cAt 3M, we continuously work to improve health care outcomes and quality for our employees, our customers, and patients. We commend Congressmen Erik Paulsen (MN), Ron Kind (WI), and Kenny Marchant (TX) for crafting legislation based on what is working across the country to truly and significantly improve patient care.\u201d\r\n\r\n\tFor complete text of the bill, click here.\u00a0\r\n\r\n\tCongressman Paulsen, a champion of small business and advocate of free enterprise, entrepreneurship, and innovation, serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, and is co-chair of the Congressional Medical Technology Caucus.\r\n\r\n\tFor more information on Congressman Paulsen\u2019s work in Congress visit\u00a0paulsen.house.gov.\u00a0\r\n\r\n\t\u00a0\r\n\r\n\t###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://paulsen.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=22&itemid=1854"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8784360252320766, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}