[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 102 (Friday, July 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROMOTION ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    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. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, as an OB-GYN with over 40 years experience in 
medical practice, I understand the need to improve the health care 
system's efficiency by increasing the use of electronic medical 
records. However, H.R. 4157 is neither a constitutional nor a wise 
means of achieving this worthy goal.
  Creating a new federal department to develop a ``national strategic 
plan'' for the use of electronic health care records will inevitably 
lead to the imposition of a ``one-size-fits all'' standard and will 
discourage private parties from exploring other more innovative means 
of storing medical records electronically. By stifling private sector 
innovation, H.R. 4157 guarantees that the American people will have an 
inferior health information technology system. Mr. Speaker, I ask my 
colleagues: when has a government system ever performed as well as a 
system developed by the private sector? In fact, Mr. Speaker, based on 
my 40 years of experience, I would say a major reason the health 
profession lags behind other professions in using information 
technology is the excessive government intervention in, and control of, 
America's health care system!
  Those who are concerned with the increasing erosion of medical 
privacy should also oppose H.R. 4157. H.R. 4157 facilitates the 
invasion of medical privacy by explicitly making electronic medical 
records subject to the misnamed federal ``medical privacy'' regulation. 
Mr. Speaker, many things in Washington are misnamed, however this 
regulation may be the most blatant case of false advertising I have 
come across in all my years in Congress. Rather than protect an 
individual right to medical privacy, these regulations empower 
government officials to determine how much medical privacy an 
individual needs.
  The so-called ``medical privacy'' regulation not only reduce 
individuals'' ability to determine who has access to their personal 
medical information, but actually threatens medical privacy and 
constitutionally protected liberties. For example, these regulations 
allow law enforcement and other government officials' access to a 
citizen's private medical record without having to obtain a search 
warrant.
  Allowing government officials to access a private person's medical 
records without a warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the 
United States Constitution, which protects American citizens from 
warrantless searches by government officials. The requirement that law 
enforcement officials obtain a warrant from a judge before searching 
private documents is one of the fundamental protections against abuse 
of the government's power to seize an individual's private documents. 
While the Fourth Amendment has been interpreted to allow warrantless 
searches in emergency situations, it is hard to conceive of a situation 
where law enforcement officials would be unable to obtain a warrant 
before electronic medical records would be destroyed.
  By creating a new federal bureaucracy to establish a ``national 
strategic plan'' for the adoption of electronic health care records, 
H.R. 4157 discourages private sector innovation and expands government 
control of the medical profession. H.R. 4157 also facilities the 
violation of medical privacy. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to reject 
this bill.

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