House Commerce Passes Health IT Bill
A bill (HR-6357) encouraging a shift from paper to electronic health records passed on voice vote in the House Commerce Committee Wednesday. The committee adopted a substitute version of the measure the Health Subcommittee approved last month (CD June 26 p4) giving more detail on privacy, record-keeping and consumer protection provisions. Congress may not have time to complete work on the complex bill this year, but lawmakers agreed the House bill reflects important bipartisan agreements that lay groundwork for action in the next Congress.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
“This is a strong and balanced” bill reflecting bipartisan input, said Committee Chairman John Dingell, D- Mich. HR-6357 seeks to move to an electronic health records system by 2014. It would require the federal government to incorporate health IT standards, calls for $560 million in loans to providers needing help in purchasing systems and would safeguard consumer records, giving patients the ability to decline access to information for marketing purposes.
Ranking member Joe Barton of Texas said he supported the bill’s privacy provisions, notable because Barton’s own health information twice has been invaded. Barton praised proposed provisions requiring patient consent before providers could disclose health information related to operations and putting restrictions on sale of patient information and where it would be sent.
More needs to be done to protect consumer information, said House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., who offered and withdrew an amendment giving consumers the right to withhold management of health records by companies working outside the U.S. “The bill does not make it clear that individuals have a right to keep their information private,” Markey said. The committee accepted Markey’s amendment requiring that consent forms be written in plain language people can understand. Other approved amendments included a proposal for a study of how technology could aid the elderly and one that would make the bill “technology neutral” in setting rules for electronic records.
“Privacy has taken center stage in this debate and rightly so,” said Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone of New Jersey. The legislation is “not just about moving patients away from a paper and pen system … it’s also about protecting privacy,” he said. “We need to move forward with modernizing the system.”
Privacy protection is important, but it shouldn’t create burdens that discourage industry adaptation, said Rep. Michael J. Rogers, R-Mich. Rogers’ withdrew an amendment on patient disclosure information that stirred a mild bipartisan dispute. The amendment offered a proposal for easing health- care providers’ requirements for tracking instances of patient record disclosure. Dingell called it a “bad amendment,” urging its rejection, but Barton, Markey and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said it wouldn’t damage consumer interests. Since there was an “honest” difference of opinion about the amendment’s intent, Dingell said the committee would discuss it further.
The Center for Democracy and Technology said in a statement Wednesday it supports the bill. The group is one of several to testify in a House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing Thursday on health records.