House Subcommittee Approves Legislation To Encourage Nationwide Adoption of Electronic Health Records

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on Wednesday by voice vote approved a bill (HR 6357) that aims to encourage nationwide adoption of an electronic health record system, CQ Today reports (Wayne, CQ Today, 6/25). The bill would authorize $575 million annually through fiscal year 2013 to provide grants and loans for health care providers to purchase health information technology systems. The measure also would codify the office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS, and it would establish a process for developing technical standards for health IT. In addition, the bill would require health care providers and other authorities to inform patients within 60 days if the security of their personal health data has been breached (Gruenwald, CongressDaily, 6/26). Federal health offices and divisions would be required to begin using EHRs as soon as the standards have been established (CQ Today, 6/25).

According to CongressDaily, patient privacy protections "were the subject of the most heated debate" during the subcommittee meeting, "with some Democrats arguing that the bill does not provide enough protection" and "some GOP critics contending that it would go too far and discourage use of health IT."

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) called for a provision that would allow patients and state attorneys to sue those who improperly use or distribute patient health data (CongressDaily, 6/26). They said HHS has a weak record of enforcing rules under the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, noting that the agency has not imposed a single penalty for more than 30,000 complaints of data record violations (Noyes, CongressDaily, 6/25). Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said that while he supported the legislation, it also could deter physicians, hospitals, pharmacies and other medical facilities and professionals from using EHRs because it lacks provisions for legal liability protections that would create opportunities for lawsuits (CQ Today, 6/25).

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said the bill's provisions should be flexible to facilitate advancements in technology because "the large private companies that are working on this are likely to come up with solutions that we never thought possible." Burgess said there should be a uniform definition of privacy. He added that the legislation should provide incentives, such as liability protections, which "have to be early, time-limited and have to ... be significant." He added, "I'm not certain that we've achieved that level of significance" (CongressDaily, 6/25).

Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said he hopes the House Energy and Commerce Committee approves the $575 million measure before the congressional recess in August, and committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.), who introduced the bill along with committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas), said he hopes for final approval in the fall (CongressDaily, 6/25).