I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2055 

To establish a prize program to award a prize and contract for the development of a fully-integrated electronic health records program for use 

by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2013 

Mr. ROE of Tennessee (for himself, Mr. DENHAM, Mr. FLORES, Mr. BISHOP

of New York, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, and 

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish a prize program to award a prize and contract 

for the development of a fully-integrated electronic health 

records program for use by the Department of Defense 

and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Integrated Electronic 

5 Health Records (iEHR) for Military and Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PRIZE PROGRAM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A 

2 FULLY-INTEGRATED ELECTRONIC HEALTH 

3 RECORDS PROGRAM FOR USE BY THE DE4 PARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND THE DEPART5 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

6 (a) PRIZE AUTHORITY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 

8 and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly 

9 carry out a program to award a cash prize in the 

10 amount of $50,000,000 and contract to an entity 

11 that develops a fully-integrated electronic health 

12 records program for national use by the Department 

13 of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

14 (2) ADVERTISING AND SOLICITATION OF COM15 PETITORS.— 

16 (A) ADVERTISING.—The Secretaries shall 

17 widely advertise prize competitions under this 

18 section to encourage broad participation by re19 searchers, large and small businesses, institu20 tions of higher education, and any other quali21 fied applicants, including veterans. 

22 (B) ANNOUNCEMENT THROUGH FEDERAL

23 REGISTER NOTICE.—The Secretaries shall an24 nounce each prize competition under this sec25 tion by publishing a notice in the Federal Reg26 ister. This notice shall include essential eleVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:10 May 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2055.IH H2055

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1 ments of the competition such as the subject of 

2 the competition, the duration of the competi3 tion, the eligibility requirements for participa4 tion in the competition, the process for partici5 pants to register for the competition, the 

6 amount of the prize, and the criteria for award7 ing the prize and contract. 

8 (3) ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZES.—The Sec9 retary may not issue a notice required by paragraph 

10 (2)(B) until all the funds needed to pay out the an11 nounced amount of the prize have been appro12 priated. 

13 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to win a prize under 

14 this section, an individual or entity— 

15 (1) shall have complied with all the require16 ments in accordance with the Federal Register no17 tice required under subsection (a)(2)(B); 

18 (2) in the case of a private entity, shall be in19 corporated in and maintain a primary place of busi20 ness in the United States, and in the case of an in21 dividual, whether participating singly or in a group, 

22 shall be a citizen of, or an alien lawfully admitted 

23 for permanent residence in, the United States; and 

24 (3) shall not be a Federal entity, a Federal em25 ployee acting within the scope of his employment, or 


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1 an employee of a national laboratory acting within 

2 the scope of his employment. 

3 (c) JOINT PANEL.— 

4 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of De5 fense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall es6 tablish a joint panel to establish the criteria for the 

7 development of a fully-integrated electronic health 

8 records program eligible for an award and contract 

9 under this section to ensure that the program meets 

10 the requirements of the Department of Defense and 

11 the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

12 (2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The members of the 

14 joint panel shall be— 

15 (i) one physician from each of the 

16 military departments, to be appointed by 

17 the Secretary of the military department 

18 concerned; 

19 (ii) two physicians employed by the 

20 Department of Veterans Affairs, to be ap21 pointed by the Secretary of Veterans Af22 fairs; and 

23 (iii) two representatives of the Vet24 erans Benefits Administration of the De25 partment of Veterans Affairs, to be apVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:10 May 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2055.IH H2055

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1 pointed by the Secretary of Veterans Af2 fairs. 

3 (B) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENT.—Mem4 bers of the joint panel shall be appointed by not 

5 later than 14 days after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act. Any member who is not ap7 pointed by such deadline shall not be appointed 

8 to the panel. 

9 (3) DEADLINE FOR CRITERIA.—The joint panel 

10 shall establish criteria with sufficient specificity for 

11 development, taking best practices of private and 

12 public electronic health records under consideration. 

13 If the panel fails to agree on such criteria or if an 

14 insufficient number of members are appointed to the 

15 panel before the deadline under paragraph (2)(B), 

16 the National Health Information Technology Coordi17 nator shall determine such criteria, taking best prac18 tices of private and public electronic health record 

19 systems into consideration. 

20 (d) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS.—The deadline for 

21 the submission of an application to participate in the com22 petition under this section is the date that is one year after 

23 the date on which the criteria are established under sub24 section (c), or if such date falls on a weekend, the next 

25 weekday following such date. 


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1 (e) AWARD SELECTION.—The Secretary of Defense 

2 and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall award prizes 

3 under this section on the basis of the criteria published 

4 in the notice required under subsection (a)(2)(B). 

5 (f) CONTRACT.—Notwithstanding any other provision 

6 of law, the entity that is awarded a prize under this sec7 tion shall be awarded a contract with the Department of 

8 Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to pro9 vide the fully-integrated electronic health records program 

10 for which the prize is awarded to the Departments and 

11 to provide maintenance and support for such program for 

12 a five-year period and under such contract shall be com13 pensated in an amount of $25,000,000 for each year. 

14 (g) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.— 

15 (1) TREATMENT OF WINNING INTELLECTUAL

16 PROPERTY.—Upon the expiration of the contract re17 ferred to in subsection (e) the intellectual property 

18 rights in the fully-integrated electronic health 

19 records program for which a prize is awarded under 

20 this section shall revert to the Federal Government. 

21 The entity that is awarded a prize under this section 

22 shall retain the intellectual property rights in any 

23 upgrades to the program developed by the entity. 

24 (2) OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.—Except 

25 as provided in paragraph (1), the Federal GovernVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:10 May 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2055.IH H2055

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1 ment shall not, by virtue of offering or awarding a 

2 prize under this section, be entitled to any intellec3 tual property rights derived as a consequence of, or 

4 direct relation to, the participation by a registered 

5 participant in a competition authorized by this sec6 tion. This subsection shall not be construed to pre7 vent the Federal Government from negotiating a li8 cense for the use of intellectual property developed 

9 for a prize competition under this section. 

10 (h) LIABILITY.— 

11 (1) WAIVER OF LIABILITY.—The Secretary of 

12 Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may 

13 require registered participants to waive claims 

14 against the Federal Government (except claims for 

15 willful misconduct) for any injury, death, damage, or 

16 loss of property, revenue, or profits arising from the 

17 registered participants’ participation in a competi18 tion under this section. The Secretary shall give no19 tice of any waiver required under this paragraph in 

20 the notice required by subsection (a)(2)(B). 

21 (2) LIABILITY INSURANCE.— 

22 (A) REQUIREMENTS.—Registered partici23 pants in a prize competition under this section 

24 shall be required to obtain liability insurance or 


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1 demonstrate financial responsibility, in amounts 

2 determined by the Secretary, for claims by— 

3 (i) a third party for death, bodily in4 jury, or property damage or loss resulting 

5 from an activity carried out in connection 

6 with participation in a competition under 

7 this section; and 

8 (ii) the Federal Government for dam9 age or loss to Government property result10 ing from such an activity. 

11 (B) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INSURED.— 

12 The Federal Government shall be named as an 

13 additional insured under a registered partici14 pant’s insurance policy required under subpara15 graph (A) with respect to claims described in 

16 clause (i) of that subparagraph, and registered 

17 participants shall be required to agree to in18 demnify the Federal Government against third 

19 party claims for damages arising from or re20 lated to competition activities under this sec21 tion. 

22 (i) NONSUBSTITUTION.—The programs created 

23 under this section shall not be considered a substitute for 

24 Federal research and development programs. 


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1 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated $50,000,000 to carry out 

3 this section. 

Æ 


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