HHS Effort To Implement EHRs Lacks Adequate Privacy Protection, GAO Report Says

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Public Health;  Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 19 Sep 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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HHS has made progress in its efforts to implement electronic health records, but lacks an adequate system for ensuring privacy concerns are addressed, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday, CongressDaily reports. The report, a follow-up to a January 2007 study, found that stakeholders "may lack the overall policies and guidance needed to assist them in their efforts to ensure that privacy protection measures are consistently built into health [information technology] programs and applications."

GAO also found HHS might miss a chance to earn public trust necessary for success of the nationwide IT network. House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) on Monday introduced a broad bill (HR 6898) to encourage nationwide implementation of integrated health IT. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee also have introduced bills (CongressDaily, 9/18).

The report is available online.

Stark Bill
Stark's (D-Calif.) bill likely will not be addressed until the next congressional session, according to stakeholders and analysts, CongressDaily reports. According to CongressDaily, observers expressed doubt that the bill could "make much progress" with less than two weeks before Congress intends to adjourn. Aides to Stark are developing a mark up schedule for the bill and hope that it will advance to the full committee, but said Stark believes it is unlikely.

David Roberts, vice president for government relations at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, said that the provision to create a federal advisory committee would be a step back from the Bush administration's past efforts to create a public-private sector panel. Roberts also said that the open-source technology provision would create additional uncertainty for providers.

Officials from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores said that they oppose Stark's bill because it contains problems with privacy provisions. Robert Zirkelbach of America's Health Insurance Plans said that the group supports the bill's provision to improve interoperability in health care but that the bill does not extend the same federal privacy rules to all providers.

According to CongressDaily, the bill's supporters include the Federation of American Hospitals, the chair-elect of the American Medical Association and the Center for Democracy and Technology (Noyes, CongressDaily, 9/16).

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