US Code
Part A— General Provisions
§ 1320a. Uniform reporting systems for health services facilities and organizations

(a) Establishment; criteria for regulations; requirements for hospitalsFor the purposes of reporting the cost of services provided by, of planning, and of measuring and comparing the efficiency of and effective use of services in, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, home health agencies, health maintenance organizations, and other types of health services facilities and organizations to which payment may be made under this chapter, the Secretary shall establish by regulation, for each such type of health services facility or organization, a uniform system for the reporting by a facility or organization of that type of the following information:(1) The aggregate cost of operation and the aggregate volume of services.
(2) The costs and volume of services for various functional accounts and subaccounts.
(3) Rates, by category of patient and class of purchaser.
(4) Capital assets, as defined by the Secretary, including (as appropriate) capital funds, debt service, lease agreements used in lieu of capital funds, and the value of land, facilities, and equipment.
(5) Discharge and bill data.
The uniform reporting system for a type of health services facility or organization shall provide for appropriate variation in the application of the system to different classes of facilities or organizations within that type and shall be established, to the extent practicable, consistent with the cooperative system for producing comparable and uniform health information and statistics described in section 242k(e)(1) of this title. In reporting under such a system, hospitals shall employ such chart of accounts, definitions, principles, and statistics as the Secretary may prescribe in order to reach a uniform reconciliation of financial and statistical data for specified uniform reports to be provided to the Secretary.
(b) Monitoring, etc., of systems by SecretaryThe Secretary shall—(1) monitor the operation of the systems established under subsection (a);
(2) assist with and support demonstrations and evaluations of the effectiveness and cost of the operation of such systems and encourage State adoption of such systems; and
(3) periodically revise such systems to improve their effectiveness and diminish their cost.
(c) Availability of information to appropriate agencies and organizationsThe Secretary shall provide information obtained through use of the uniform reporting systems described in subsection (a) in a useful manner and format to appropriate agencies and organizations, including health systems agencies (designated under section 300l–4 11 See References in Text note below. of this title) and State health planning and development agencies (designated under section 300m 1 of this title), as may be necessary to carry out such agencies’ and organizations’ functions.

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