[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 102 (Friday, July 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROMOTION ACT OF 2006

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                               speech of

                           HON. RAHM EMANUEL

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4157) to 
     amend the Social Security Act to encourage the dissemination, 
     security, confidentiality, and usefulness of health 
     information technology:

  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Chairman, I believe there is great potential in the 
widespread adoption of health information technology. By expanding the 
use of health information technology, we can reduce medical errors, 
improve the quality of care and patient safety, enhance efficiency and 
significantly reduce health care costs.
  However, the bill before us fails to make any progress toward greater 
adoption of health information technology.
  H.R. 4157 fails to provide for the development or adoption of 
interoperability standards. It also fails to provide adequate funding 
to assist providers transitioning to an electronic medical records 
system, and it greatly weakens Medicare's fraud and abuse laws.
  The RAND Corporation recently estimated that by implementing health 
information technology, we can save as much as $162 billion per year. 
Unfortunately, H.R. 4157 accomplishes so little that we would fail to 
yield any of these potential savings.
  The most troubling aspect of this bill is its failure to protect an 
individual's medical privacy.
  Even the President of the United States, believes an individual's 
medical information should be protected. On January 27, 2005, the 
President stated, ``I presume I'm like most Americans--I think my 
medical records should be private.'' And on May 22, 2006, the President 
stated, ``Our goal, by the way, is for every American to have an 
electronic medical record. And--but, by the way, with a guarantee of 
privacy.''
  During the committee process, Mr. Doggett and I offered an amendment 
that would have strengthened privacy protections for individuals. 
Specifically, the amendment: (1) expressly recognized the right of an 
individual to privacy and security; (2) required individuals to consent 
to having their information shared; (3) allowed individuals to prohibit 
access to particularly sensitive information in their health record 
(i.e., HIV, mental health, genetic information); (4) required 
individuals to be notified if their health record has been breached, 
and (5) allowed individuals to obtain damages from an entity that 
wrongfully uses or discloses identifiable health information.
  Unfortunately, our Republican colleagues did not share these goals 
and voted against these provisions on numerous occasions. Yesterday, we 
joined our colleagues from the Energy and Commerce Committee and 
offered a similar amendment again before the Rules Committee. The 
amendment was blocked there as well.
  As we move forward on health information technology, it is absolutely 
essential that an individual's most personal and vulnerable information 
is protected. In a digital environment, HIPPA is just not enough.
  Mr. Chairman, I strongly believe in the potential of health 
information technology. Unfortunately, I cannot support the legislation 
before us because it fails to truly make any progress in achieving that 
goal.

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