Legislation in the House Ways and Means Committee would authorize hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to help providers adopt health information technology. The legislation also includes a large section of new proposals to amend the HIPAA privacy and security rules.
The legislation is part of the economic stimulus package. It is 328 pages, of which 186 pages cover health information technology and privacy/security provisions. Rep. Charles Rangel, chair of Ways and Means, is the bill's sponsor.
The funds include, among other initiatives, $250 million to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, $300 million to support health information exchanges, $540 million for Medicare incentives to providers adopting I.T., $360 million in similar Medicaid incentives, and grants to states to promote health information technology.
Under the legislation, Medicare would provide incentive payments of $41,000 over five years for physicians not based in hospitals that adopt electronic health records. The incentives, however, would drop sharply for physicians not adopting EHRs until after 2013.
Hospitals also would receive Medicare incentives for EHR adoption, with lower payments for those starting after 2013.
The legislation also would substantially expand the scope of the HIPAA privacy and security rules. It would require business associates to comply with the rules in the same manner as covered entities.
Other entities not covered under the privacy and security rules would become business associates. These include health information exchanges, regional health information organizations, and electronic prescribing and personal health records vendors.
Under the legislation, providers would be required to notify individuals of breaches of their protected health information. Further, vendors and other providers of personal health records would be required to notify individuals of breaches of their PHR data.
Financial penalties for failure willful misuse of protected health information would increase and state attorneys general would be enable to enforce the privacy and security rules.
Other information technology provisions in the legislation include:
* The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology would become a permanent office, with expanded authority, in the Department of Health and Human Services. The position of chief privacy officer would be created in the office.
* The national coordinator would support development and provisioning to providers of EHR technology, for a nominal fee, if the coordinator determined that the needs of providers are not being met through the marketplace.
* A HIT Policy Committee would be created to advise the national coordinator. The existing National eHealth Collaborative advisory body could serve as the policy committee.
* A HIT Standards Committee would be created to advise the national coordinator. The bill does not mention the existing Health Information Technology Standards Panel.
The legislation is available at http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/110/sbill.pdf.
--Joseph Goedert
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