The ban first placed on the Health and Human Services in 1999, has been extended in the Senate version of the bill funding Departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education through September 2020.
Language banning HHS from spending any money to develop the unique patient identification system had been struck in an amendment to the bill by House Representatives Bill Foster (D) and Mike Kelly (R) and was passed by the House, however, the Senate draft of the budget bill released Sept. 17, 2019 retained the original language banning HHS from acting on the HIPAA requirement.
Long promoted as a patient safety measure by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), Congress citing privacy and security concerns has annually included the ban on developing a single identifier much like a social security number, which would be used by all healthcare providers and institutions across the country.
Efforts to lift the ban have gained momentum over the past few budget cycles, with 56 healthcare groups including CHIME urging the lifting of the ban during the current round, the amendment striking was passed in the House with overwhelming bi-partisan support, but the Senate subcommittee rejected the amendment in its version of the bill.
The spending bill is currently wending its way through the Senate process, whether a similar Foster-Kelly amendment will be added to the final Senate bill is considered unlikely.
Source: Health IT Security and Journal of AHIMA
Language banning HHS from spending any money to develop the unique patient identification system had been struck in an amendment to the bill by House Representatives Bill Foster (D) and Mike Kelly (R) and was passed by the House, however, the Senate draft of the budget bill released Sept. 17, 2019 retained the original language banning HHS from acting on the HIPAA requirement.
Long promoted as a patient safety measure by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), Congress citing privacy and security concerns has annually included the ban on developing a single identifier much like a social security number, which would be used by all healthcare providers and institutions across the country.
Efforts to lift the ban have gained momentum over the past few budget cycles, with 56 healthcare groups including CHIME urging the lifting of the ban during the current round, the amendment striking was passed in the House with overwhelming bi-partisan support, but the Senate subcommittee rejected the amendment in its version of the bill.
The spending bill is currently wending its way through the Senate process, whether a similar Foster-Kelly amendment will be added to the final Senate bill is considered unlikely.
Source: Health IT Security and Journal of AHIMA
No comments:
Post a Comment