To ensure that health disparity populations, including minority health disparity populations, benefit from the progress made in the ability of individuals to measure the quality of health care delivery, the Director shall support the development of quality of health care measures that assess the experience of such populations with health care systems, such as measures that assess the access of such populations to health care, the cultural competence of the care provided, the quality of the care provided, the outcomes of care, or other aspects of health care practice that the Director determines to be important.
The Director shall examine the practices of providers that have a record of reducing health disparities or have experience in providing culturally competent health services to minority health disparity populations or other health disparity populations. In examining such practices of providers funded under the authorities of this chapter, the Director shall consult with the heads of the relevant agencies of the Public Health Service.
Not later than 36 months after November 22, 2000, the Secretary, acting through the Director, shall prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report describing the state-of-the-art of quality measurement for minority and other health disparity populations that will identify critical unmet needs, the current activities of the Department to address those needs, and a description of related activities in the private sector.