Statement of Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce

H.R. 4157, THE “HEALTH INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY PROMOTION ACT OF 2005”

July 27, 2006

Today, our Republican colleagues are wasting a golden opportunity to make real progress in an area that most Members of Congress support – Health Information Technology. We have a chance to not only save money and time, but also save lives. We have a chance to help providers transform their practices so that they can better serve the needs of their patients and electronically communicate with other providers, health plans, and the Government.

Democrats brought a substitute to the Committee on Rules. Regrettably, the Rules Committee rejected it. This alternative was identical to the bill that the Senate passed unanimously last November with some strong privacy protections. The Senate bill, S. 1418, was jointly introduced and negotiated by Senators Frist, Clinton, Enzi, and Kennedy. But we are not allowed to vote on it today.

And the bill we have before us falls short. First, it makes no progress towards protecting the privacy and security of health information. While expanded use of electronic health information systems clearly has a potential benefit, it also poses a serious threat to patient privacy by creating greater amounts of personal information susceptible to thieves and other unauthorized users. I agree with President Bush, who said that:

“I presume I'm like most Americans – I think my medical records should be private. I don't want people prying into them, I don't want people looking at them, I don't want people opening them up unless I say it's fine for you to do so.”

Second, H.R. 4157 fails to include sufficient Federal funding to foster the adoption and implementation of health information technology such as electronic medical records. Start-up costs are the most significant barrier physicians face.

Third, H.R. 4157 goes too far in undermining fraud and abuse laws as its response to needed investment. The exemptions provided in this bill to the Stark self-referral and anti-kickback statutes potentially encourages biased decisionmaking about a patient’s treatment.

 Fourth, the bill falls short in establishing comprehensive standards, and it does little to promote the adoption of standards by providers. The fastest way to accomplish this would be for the Federal Government to abide by the standards it adopts for electronic communication so that others in the private sector follow. But H.R. 4157 does not require this.

This bill fails on the issues of patient privacy, funding for health information technology, promoting electronic communication between providers, and protecting against fraud. I urge a “no” vote on H.R. 4157.

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(Contact: Jodi Seth, 202-225-3641)