[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2406 Reported in House (RH)]
Union Calendar No. 277
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2406
[Report No. 110-451]
To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to
increase its efforts in support of the integration of the healthcare
information enterprise in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 21, 2007
Mr. Gordon of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Science and Technology
November 15, 2007
Additional sponsors: Mr. Gingrey, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Carnahan, Mr. Wu,
Mr. Matheson, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Wilson of
Ohio, Mr. Costello, Ms. Hooley, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms.
Richardson, Mr. Hill, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Woolsey, Ms.
Giffords, Mr. Miller of North Carolina, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Lampson, Mr.
Baird, Mr. Ross, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. Melancon, Mr. Towns, Mr. Udall of
Colorado, and Mr. Sestak
November 15, 2007
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 21,
2007]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to
increase its efforts in support of the integration of the healthcare
information enterprise in the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Healthcare Information Technology
Enterprise Integration Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The National Institute of Standards and Technology,
because of the electronic commerce, information technology and
security expertise in its laboratories and the healthcare
component of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and
its long history of working with the information technology and
healthcare industries, is well equipped to complement the
healthcare information technology implementation efforts as
established by Executive Order 13335 of April 27, 2004, by
addressing the technical challenges posed by healthcare
information enterprise integration.
(2) Therefore, it is in the national interest for the
National Institute of Standards and Technology to accelerate
its efforts--
(A) to participate in the development of technical
standards, standards conformance tests, and enterprise
integration processes that are necessary to increase
efficiency and quality of care, and lower costs in the
healthcare industry; and
(B) ensuring that all components of the United
States healthcare infrastructure can be a part of an
electronic information network that is reliable,
interoperable, and secure.
SEC. 3. HEALTHCARE INFORMATION ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION INITIATIVE.
(a) Establishment.--The Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology shall establish an initiative for advancing
healthcare information enterprise integration within the United States.
In carrying out this section, the Director shall involve various units
of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including its
laboratories and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program. This
initiative shall build upon ongoing efforts of the National Institute
of Standards and Technology, the private sector, and other Federal
agencies, shall involve consortia that include government and industry,
and shall be designed to permit healthcare information enterprise
integration. These efforts shall complement ongoing activities
occurring under Executive Order 13335 of April 27, 2004.
(b) Technical Activities.--In order to carry out this section, the
Director may focus on--
(1) information technology standards and interoperability
analysis, which may include the development of technical
testbeds;
(2) supporting the establishment of conformance testing
infrastructure, including software conformance and
certification;
(3) security;
(4) medical device communication;
(5) supporting the provisioning of technical architecture
products for management and retrieval; and
(6) information management including electronic health
records management, health information usability, and access
and decision support.
(c) Other Activities.--The Director may assist healthcare
representatives and organizations and Federal agencies in the
development of technical roadmaps that identify the remaining steps
needed to ensure that technical standards for application protocols,
interoperability, data integrity, and security, as well as the
corollary conformance test protocols, will be in place. These roadmaps
shall rely upon voluntary consensus standards where possible consistent
with Federal technology transfer laws.
(d) Plans and Reports.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall
transmit a report to the Committee on Science and Technology of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate on the activities of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology under this section.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS AND
INFRASTRUCTURE.
(a) Guidelines and Standards.--Not later than 12 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Institute
of Standards and Technology, in consultation with industry and
appropriate Federal agencies, shall report on development of
technology-neutral information technology infrastructure guidelines and
standards, or the adoption of existing technology-neutral industry
guidelines and private sector standards, for use by Federal agencies to
enable those agencies to effectively select and utilize healthcare
information technologies in a manner that is--
(1) sufficiently secure to meet the needs of those agencies
(as is consistent with the Computer Security Act of 1987, as
amended, section 225 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and
title III of the E-Government Act of 2002), their transaction
partners, and the general public;
(2) interoperable, to the maximum extent possible; and
(3) inclusive of ongoing Federal efforts that provide
technical expertise to harmonize existing standards and assist
in the development of interoperability specifications.
(b) Elements.--The guidelines and standards developed under
subsection (a) shall--
(1) promote the use by Federal agencies of commercially
available products that incorporate the guidelines and
standards developed under subsection (a);
(2) develop uniform testing procedures suitable for
determining the conformance of commercially available and
Federal healthcare information technology products with the
guidelines and standards;
(3) support and promote the testing of electronic
healthcare information technologies utilized by Federal
agencies;
(4) provide protection and security profiles;
(5) establish a core set of interoperability specifications
in transactions between Federal agencies and their transaction
partners; and
(6) include validation criteria to enable Federal agencies
to select healthcare information technologies appropriate to
their needs.
(c) Reports.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall transmit to
the Congress a report that includes a description and analysis of--
(1) the level of interoperability and security of
technologies for sharing healthcare information among Federal
agencies; and
(2) the problems Federal agencies are having with, and the
progress such agencies are making toward, ensuring
interoperable and secure healthcare information systems and
electronic healthcare records.
SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.
(a) Healthcare Information Enterprise Integration Research
Centers.--
(1) In general.--The Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, in consultation the Director of the
National Science Foundation and other appropriate Federal
agencies, shall establish a program of assistance to
institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof which
may include nonprofit entities and Federal Government
laboratories) to establish multidisciplinary Centers for
Healthcare Information Enterprise Integration.
(2) Review; competition.--Grants shall be awarded under
this subsection on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis.
(3) Purpose.--The purposes of the Centers shall be--
(A) to generate innovative approaches to healthcare
information enterprise integration by conducting
cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research on the systems
challenges to healthcare delivery; and
(B) the development and use of information
technologies and other complementary fields.
(4) Research areas.--Research areas may include--
(A) the interfaces between human information and
communications technology systems;
(B) voice-recognition systems;
(C) software that improves interoperability and
connectivity among systems;
(D) software dependability in systems critical to
healthcare delivery;
(E) measurement of the impact of information
technologies on the quality and productivity of
healthcare;
(F) healthcare information enterprise management;
and
(G) information technology security and integrity.
(5) Applications.--An institution of higher education (or a
consortium thereof) seeking funding under this subsection shall
submit an application to the Director at such time, in such
manner, and containing such information as the Director may
require. The application shall include, at a minimum, a
description of--
(A) the research projects that will be undertaken
by the Center and the respective contributions of the
participating entities;
(B) how the Center will promote active
collaboration among scientists and engineers from
different disciplines, such as information technology,
biologic sciences, management, social sciences, and
other appropriate disciplines;
(C) technology transfer activities to demonstrate
and diffuse the research results, technologies, and
knowledge; and
(D) how the Center will contribute to the education
and training of researchers and other professionals in
fields relevant to healthcare information enterprise
integration.
(b) National Information Technology Research and Development
Program.--The National High-Performance Computing Program established
by section 101 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C.
5511) shall coordinate Federal research and development programs
related to the development and deployment of health information
technology, including activities related to--
(1) computer infrastructure;
(2) data security;
(3) development of large-scale, distributed, reliable
computing systems;
(4) wired, wireless, and hybrid high-speed networking;
(5) development of software and software-intensive systems;
(6) human-computer interaction and information management
technologies; and
(7) the social and economic implications of information
technology.
(c) Strategic Plan for Healthcare Technologies and
Classification.--
(1) In general.--The Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, in consultation with the Director of
the National Science Foundation, not later than 90 days after
the date of enactment of this Act, shall establish a task force
whose membership includes representatives of other Federal
agencies and industry groups (such as the American Health
Information Management Association and the American Medical
Informatics Association) to develop a strategic plan including
recommendations for--
(A) the development, adoption, and maintenance of
terminologies and classifications;
(B) gaining commitment of terminology and
classification stakeholders (such as developers, end
users, and other service and technology suppliers) to
principles and guidelines for open and transparent
processes to enable cost-effective interoperability and
complete and accurate information;
(C) the design of a centralized authority or
governance model, including principles for its
operation and funding scenarios;
(D) United States participation in the
International Health Terminology Standards Development
Organization; and
(E) any other issues identified by the task force.
(2) Task force report.--The task force shall report its
findings and recommendations to the Committee on Science and
Technology of the House of Representatives not later than 18
months after the date of enactment of this Act. The task force
shall terminate after transmitting such report.
(3) Federal advisory committee act.--The task force
established under this subsection shall not be subject to the
Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director of the
National Institute of Standards and Technology for carrying out this
Act $8,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2010, to be
derived from amounts authorized under section 3001 of Public Law 110-
69.
Union Calendar No. 277
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2406
[Report No. 110-451]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to
increase its efforts in support of the integration of the healthcare
information enterprise in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
November 15, 2007
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed