Correction: Brian Ahier looked at this post and made a better search through the legislation. When I searched, I used the same words that had been in use since 1998, which mentioned HIPAA and a national ID. As you can see in his post, the new language does not. I did not use the health ID language. I apologize for the error and thank him for his correction.
Sometimes what Congress leaves out is as important as what it puts in. The CRomnibus Act has an example for HIT. In its hundreds of pages, Congress took three actions to promote HIT interoperability. Two have been widely reported: It ordered ONC to report on interoperability data blocking and to spell out other impediments.
The third action, which I haven’t seen reported, was an omission. Ron Paul’s unique patient ID gag rule is no more.
In 2000, then Representative Paul (R-TX) put a rider on HHS’ appropriation blocking HIPAA’s call for a unique, patient ID. It prohibited, “planning, testing, piloting, or developing a national identification card.” Given Paul’s statements, this meant no patient ID development. By making it impossible to even think about a unique patient identifier, ONC could not assess the full range of interoperability options.
Each spending bill since 2000 has had the rider, until now. Noting remotely similar is in the bill. I’m still trying to find out who and when this was dropped.
What’s clear, though, is that Congress is serious about interoperability and has given ONC a clear field to develop a real plan. A bad gag rule is gone.
