COMMITTEE: HEALTH
POLICY: Health Information Technology
TYPE: CONSENT
NCSL strongly supports the development of an interoperable system of electronic health information for the United States. Such a system has the potential to:
- facilitate the coordination of health care regardless of patient location;
- improve both the quality and efficiency of care;
- provide easy access to health care information to both patients and health care providers, which can contribute to more informed decision-making on the part of patients; and
- reduce medical errors and some of the fraud and abuse that plagues our health care system.
The potential of benefits of an interoperable health information system cannot be realized unless: (1) consumers trust the system and want to participate in it; (2) the full range of health care providers trust the system and find it affordable and easy to use; and (3) employers support the system and believe that it is cost-efficient and improves quality of care.
NCSL urges Congress and the Administration to continue to move forward on the development of this important system. It is imperative that states be involved in all stages of the development. The system should be based on a set of common, but not necessarily uniform values and technical standards. NCSL supports a system that:
- guarantees that patients and their authorized health professionals jointly make decisions regarding the sharing of health information;
- stores health information locally, where the services are being rendered, not in a centralized national or regional database;
- creates a nationwide capability for health information exchange building on existing systems;
- facilitates communication among the full range of information networks, states and communities; and
- allows participating entities to use a wide range of different software and hardware.
The key to the development of a successful interoperable electronic health information system is the development of a system that is secure and protects patient privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) set important privacy standards that must be retained in such a system. It is critical that the current HIPAA law and regulations and subsequent laws and regulations enacted to facilitate an interoperable electronic health information system continue to establish a floor, but not a ceiling when it comes to protecting patient privacy and to the permissible use of stored data.
Interoperability, not uniformity should be the focus of initiatives to get this important system in place. The security of the data must be a priority. Severe penalties should be established for individuals or entities that compromise information in the system. Every effort must be made to make the system available and affordable to the widest range of providers and consumers.
NCSL supports the establishment of a Health Information Technology Resource Center to identify best practices and to provide technical assistance to interested parties. NCSL also supports the establishment of grant, loan and demonstration programs to provide financial and technical support to health care providers, state and local governments, and other entities that will play a key role in the development and successful operation of an interoperable health information system. Finally, it is critical that publicly financed programs such as Medicaid and Medicare be active participants in the system and that creating this capacity be a priority within the federal budget.
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