[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1975 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1975

 To modify the deadline for initial compliance with the standards and 
  implementation specifications promulgated under section 1173 of the 
              Social Security Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 23, 2001

  Mr. Shadegg (for himself, Ms. Dunn of Washington, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. 
  Gordon, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Foley, Mr. Terry, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Lewis of 
     Kentucky, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Buyer, Mr. Tanner, and Mr. Pence) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
   Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and 
 Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To modify the deadline for initial compliance with the standards and 
  implementation specifications promulgated under section 1173 of the 
              Social Security Act, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. MODIFIED TIMETABLE FOR INITIAL COMPLIANCE WITH 
              ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION STANDARDS FOR HEALTH CARE 
              INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 1175(b)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1320d-4(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(1) Initial compliance.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each person to whom an initial 
                standard or implementation specification adopted or 
                established under section 1173 applies shall comply 
                with the standard or specification by the later of--
                            ``(i) 24 months after the date on which the 
                        Secretary determines that--
                                    ``(I) regulations have been 
                                promulgated in final form containing 
                                all of the standards and specifications 
                                required to be adopted or established 
                                by such section (excluding standards 
                                under subsection (b)(1) of such section 
                                (providing for unique health 
                                identifiers for individuals));
                                    ``(II) regulations have been 
                                promulgated in final form implementing 
                                section 1176; and
                                    ``(III) standard unique health 
                                identifiers for each health plan and 
                                health care provider are available for 
                                use in the health care system pursuant 
                                to standards adopted under section 
                                1173(b); or
                            ``(ii) October 16, 2004.
                    ``(B) Determination of finality.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The requirements of 
                        subclauses (I) and (II) of subparagraph (A)(i) 
                        shall be considered to be met if the 
                        regulations are promulgated and become 
                        effective in accordance with section 553 of 
                        title 5, United States Code.
                            ``(ii) Modifications.--Nothing in subclause 
                        (I) or (II) of subparagraph (A)(i) shall be 
                        construed as requiring the Secretary to take 
                        into account any subsequent modification made 
                        to a regulation pursuant to section 1174(b) in 
                        making the determination that the regulation 
                        has been promulgated in final form.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 1175(b)(2) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d-4(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end 
``For purposes of this paragraph, the Secretary shall determine the 
plans that qualify as small health plans.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) 
shall take effect as if included in the enactment of section 262 of the 
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 
104-191; 110 Stat. 2021 et seq.).

SEC. 2. NO EFFECT ON REGULATIONS GOVERNING PRIVACY OF INDIVIDUALLY 
              IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION.

    Nothing in the amendments made by section 1, or in section 1175(b) 
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d-4(b)), as amended by 
section 1, shall be construed as affecting--
            (1) the compliance dates for initial implementation of the 
        standards for privacy of individually identifiable health 
        information set forth in section 164.534 of title 45, Code of 
        Federal Regulations (as amended by the final rule published on 
        February 26, 2001, in the Federal Register (66 Fed. Reg. 
        12433));
            (2) any other provision of subpart E of part 164 of 
        subchapter C of subtitle A of title 45, Code of Federal 
        Regulations;
            (3) any provision of subpart A of part 164 of subchapter C 
        of subtitle A of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, insofar 
        as such subpart affects the application of subpart E of such 
        part;
            (4) any provision of part 160 of subchapter C of subtitle A 
        of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, insofar as such part 
        affects the application of subpart E of part 164 of such 
        subchapter; or
            (5) the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human 
        Services under section 264 of the Health Insurance Portability 
        and Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191; 110 Stat. 
        2033 et seq.).

SEC. 3. STUDY ON EFFECT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study to examine--
            (1) the effect of the enactment of part C of title XI of 
        the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d et seq.), and the 
        regulations promulgated under such part, on--
                    (A) health plans;
                    (B) health care providers;
                    (C) health care clearinghouses; and
                    (D) the Department of Health and Human Services; 
                and
            (2) the progress of such persons and entities in complying 
        with such part and regulations.
    (b) Deadline.--Not later than October 31, 2003, the Comptroller 
General of the United States shall submit to the appropriate committees 
of the Congress a report on the study conducted under subsection (a).
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms ``health 
plan'', ``health care provider'', and ``health care clearinghouse'' 
have the meaning given such terms in section 1171 of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d).
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