Senate leaders agree on privacy protections amendment to health care information technology bill

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday announced that sponsors of a bill (HR 1693) that would promote the use of health care information technology have agreed to include an amendment Leahy proposed to help protect patient privacy, CQ HealthBeat reports. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) introduced the legislation last October.

Leahy had raised concerns that the bill, which would extend the medical privacy rule issued after the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to electronic medical records, did not include adequate privacy protections (Wayne, CQ Today, 5/14). The rule allows some health care providers to distribute medical records for marketing purposes (Edney, CongressDaily, 5/15).

Under the amendment, providers could not distribute medical records for marketing purposes, and patients would have the right to request electronic copies of their records (CQ Today, 5/14). The amendment also would require HHS to develop recommendations for Congress on privacy and security and establish a patient notification system in the event of a breach of their medical records.

Kennedy and Enzi this week plan to introduce the amended bill. Leahy in June plans to hold a hearing on the privacy protections in the legislation (CongressDaily, 5/15). Melissa Wagoner, a spokesperson for Kennedy, said, "We made progress today, but this isn't a done deal yet," as the Bush administration has requested some technical revisions to the bill, and the Congressional Budget Office has not determined a cost estimate for the amendment (CQ Today, 5/14).