Ҥ 1705B. Management of health care: productivity

“(a) Relative value unit tracking.—The Secretary shall track relative value units for all Department providers.

“(b) Clinical procedure coding training.—The Secretary shall require all Department providers to attend training on clinical procedure coding.

“(c) Performance standards.— (1) The Secretary shall establish for each Department facility—

“(A) in accordance with paragraph (2), standardized performance standards based on nationally recognized relative value unit production standards applicable to each specific profession in order to evaluate clinical productivity at the provider and facility level;

“(B) remediation plans to address low clinical productivity and clinical inefficiency; and

“(C) an ongoing process to systematically review the content, implementation, and outcome of the plans developed under subparagraph (B).

“(2) In establishing the performance standards under paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary may—

“(A) incorporate values-based productivity models; and

“(B) take into account non-clinical duties, including with respect to training and research.

“(d) Definitions.—In this section:

“(1) The term ‘Department provider’ means an employee of the Department whose primary responsibilities include furnishing hospital care or medical services, including a physician, a dentist, an optometrist, a podiatrist, a chiropractor, an advanced practice registered nurse, and a physician’s assistant acting as an independent provider.

“(2) The term ‘relative value unit’ means a unit for measuring workload by determining the time, mental effort and judgment, technical skill, physical effort, and stress involved in delivering a procedure.”.