II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3454 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve the exchange 

of healthcare information through the use of technology, to encourage 

the creation, use and maintenance of lifetime electronic health records 

that may contain health plan and debit card functionality in independent 

health record banks, to use such records to build a nationwide health 

information technology infrastructure, and to promote participation in 

health information exchange by consumers through tax incentives and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 6, 2006 

Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Mr. TALENT) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve 

the exchange of healthcare information through the use 

of technology, to encourage the creation, use and maintenance of lifetime electronic health records that may contain health plan and debit card functionality in independent health record banks, to use such records to 

build a nationwide health information technology infrastructure, and to promote participation in health information exchange by consumers through tax incentives 

and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Independent Health 

5 Record Bank Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 It is the purpose of this Act to provide for the estab8 lishment of a nationwide health information technology 

9 network to— 

10 (1) improve healthcare quality, reduce medical 

11 errors, increase the efficiency of care, and advance 

12 the delivery of appropriate, evidence-based 

13 healthcare services; 

14 (2) promotes the wellness, disease prevention, 

15 and management of chronic illnesses by increasing 

16 the availability and transparency of information re17 lated to the healthcare needs of an individual; 

18 (3) ensure that appropriate information nec19 essary to make medical decisions is available in a us20 able form at the time and in the location that the 

21 medical service involved is provided; 

22 (4) produces greater value for healthcare ex23 penditures by reducing healthcare costs that result 

24 from inefficiency, medical errors, inappropriate care, 

25 and incomplete information; 


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1 (5) promotes a more effective marketplace, 

2 greater competition, greater systems analysis, in3 creased choice, enhanced quality, and improved out4 comes in healthcare services; 

5 (6) improve the coordination of information and 

6 the provision of such services through an effective 

7 infrastructure for the secure and authorized ex8 change and use of healthcare information; and 

9 (7) ensure that the confidentiality of individ10 ually identifiable health information of a patient is 

11 secure and protected. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) ACCOUNT.—The term ‘‘account’’ means an 

15 electronic health record of an individual contained in 

16 an independent health record bank. 

17 (2) ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD.—The term 

18 ‘‘electronic health record’’ means a longitudinal col19 lection of personal health information concerning a 

20 single individual, entered or accepted by healthcare 

21 providers, and stored electronically. 

22 (3) HEALTHCARE ENTITY.—The term 

23 ‘‘healthcare entity’’ includes healthcare consumers, 

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1 ceutical companies, laboratories, and research insti2 tutes. 

3 (4) HIPAA.—The term ‘‘HIPAA’’ means the 

4 regulations under section 264(c) of the Health In5 surance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 

6 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note). 

7 (5) INDIVIDUALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH IN8 FORMATION.—The term ‘‘individually identifiable 

9 health information’’ has the meaning given such 

10 term in section 1171(6) of the Social Security Act 

11 (42 U.S.C. 1320d(6)). 

12 (6) NONIDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFORMA13 TION.—The term ‘‘nonidentifiable health informa14 tion’’ means any list, description or other grouping 

15 of consumer information (including publicly available 

16 information pertaining to them) that is derived with17 out using personally identifiable information that is 

18 not publicly available. 

19 (7) PARTIALLY IDENTIFIABLE HEALTH INFOR20 MATION.—The term ‘‘partially identifiable health in21 formation’’ means any list, description, or other 

22 grouping of consumer information (and publicly 

23 available information pertaining to them) derived 

24 using any personally identifiable information that is 

25 not publicly available. 


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1 (8) PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION.—The 

2 term ‘‘protected health information’’ shall have the 

3 meaning given such term for purposes of HIPAA. 

4 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of Commerce. 

6 SEC. 4. INDEPENDENT HEALTH RECORD BANKS. 

7 (a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section to 

8 provide for the establishment of independent health record 

9 banks to achieve a savings of money and lives in the 

10 healthcare system through— 

11 (1) the creation and storage of lifetime indi12 vidual electronic health records for individuals that 

13 may contain health plan and debit card functionality 

14 and that serves the interests of all healthcare enti15 ties; 

16 (2) the utilization of technological infrastruc17 ture with the goal of connecting health records to 

18 build a national health information network; 

19 (3) the provision of health information data 

20 sets, within distinct authorization boundaries, based 

21 on usage needs, including— 

22 (A) the sale of approved data for research 

23 and other consumer purposes as provided for 

24 under section 6(b); 


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1 (B) the provision of data for emergency 

2 healthcare as provided for under section 6(c); 

3 and 

4 (C) the provision of data for all other 

5 healthcare needs determined appropriate by the 

6 Secretary (in accordance with the protections 

7 provided for under section 6); 

8 (4) the offering of incentives to employers that 

9 face rising employee health costs, to encourage em10 ployee participation in independent health record 

11 banks; and 

12 (5) the creation of a source of tax-free income 

13 to support the operations of the independent health 

14 record banks, and, through revenue sharing, to pro15 vide incentives to independent health record bank ac16 count holders, healthcare providers, and fee payers 

17 to contribute health information. 

18 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

20 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

21 shall prescribe standards for the establishment and 

22 certification of independent health record banks to 

23 carry out the purposes described in subsection (a). 

24 (2) REQUIREMENT OF NON-PROFIT ENTITY.— 

25 The standards under paragraph (1) shall permit a 


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1 non-profit entity to establish an independent health 

2 record bank as a cooperative entity that operates for 

3 the benefit and in the interests of the membership 

4 of the bank as a whole. Such bank shall be owned 

5 and controlled by its members. 

6 (3) FOR-PROFIT ENTITIES.—A for-profit entity 

7 may not participate in the establishment and oper8 ation of an independent health record bank, except 

9 to the extent that such entity is by contract em10 ployed to assist in carrying out the operations of the 

11 bank. 

12 (4) TREATMENT AS COVERED ENTITY FOR PUR13 POSES OF HIPAA.—To the extent that an inde14 pendent health record bank (or associated vendor) is 

15 engaged in transmitting protected health informa16 tion, the bank shall be considered to be a covered 

17 entity for purposes of HIPAA with respect to such 

18 information. 

19 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to be a mem21 ber of an independent health record bank, an indi22 vidual shall obtain or have obtained a product or 

23 service from a covered entity that is to be used pri24 marily for personal, family, or household purposes, 

25 or that individual’s legal representative. 


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1 (2) NO LIMITATION ON MEMBERSHIP.—Nothing 

2 in this subsection shall be construed to permit an 

3 independent health record bank to restrict member4 ship. 

5 (d) RIGHTS RELATING TO INFORMATION IN THE

6 BANK.— 

7 (1) INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS.— 

8 (A) GENERAL RIGHT.—An individual who 

9 has a health record contained in an independent 

10 health record bank shall maintain ownership 

11 over the entire health record and shall have the 

12 right to review the contents of the record in its 

13 entirety at any time during the normal business 

14 operating hours of the bank. 

15 (B) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND LIMI16 TATION.—An individual described in subpara17 graph (A) may add personal health information 

18 to the health record of that individual, except 

19 that such individual shall not alter or falsify in20 formation that is entered into the health record 

21 by another healthcare entity. Such an individual 

22 shall have the right to propose an amendment 

23 to such information pursuant to standards pre24 scribed by the Secretary relating to the correcVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:56 Jun 07, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3454.IS S3454

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1 tion of information contained in a health 

2 record. 

3 (2) OTHER HEALTHCARE ENTITIES.—A 

4 healthcare entity (other than an individual) shall 

5 serve as the custodian of only that information that 

6 has been added by such entity to the health record 

7 of an individual that is maintained by an inde8 pendent health record bank. Such entity may be per9 mitted to have access to other specified information 

10 contained in such health record (including the entire 

11 record if appropriate) if such access is granted by 

12 the independent health record bank and the indi13 vidual involved (pursuant to standards prescribed by 

14 the Secretary relating to access to information). 

15 (e) FINANCING OF ACTIVITIES.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—An independent health 

17 record bank may generate revenue to pay for the op18 erations of the bank through— 

19 (A) charging healthcare entities, including 

20 individual account holders, account fees for use 

21 of the bank; 

22 (B) the sale of nonidentifiable and par23 tially identifiable health information contained 

24 in the bank for research purposes (as provided 

25 for in section 6(b)); and 


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1 (C) the conduct of any other activities de2 termined appropriate by the Secretary. 

3 (2) SHARING OF REVENUE.—Revenue derived 

4 under paragraph (1)(B) shall be shared with inde5 pendent health record bank account holders, and 

6 may be shared with healthcare providers and payers, 

7 in accordance with this Act. 

8 (3) TREATMENT OF INCOME.—For purposes of 

9 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, any revenue de10 scribed in this subsection shall not be included in 

11 gross income of any independent health record bank, 

12 independent health record bank account holder, 

13 healthcare provider, or payer described in this sub14 section. 

15 SEC. 5. HEALTHCARE CLEARINGHOUSE ACTIVITIES. 

16 (a) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 

17 apply to an independent health record bank (and associ18 ated vendors) with respect to activities undertaken by such 

19 bank in operating as a health care clearinghouse (as such 

20 term is defined in section 1171(2) of the Social Security 

21 Act (42 U.S.C. 1329d(2)). 

22 (b) ACCREDITATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to carry out 

24 clearinghouse activities under this section, an inde25 pendent health record bank (and associated vendors 


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1 performing clearinghouse functions) shall be accred2 ited by a national standards development organiza3 tion, utilizing the criteria described in paragraph 

4 (2), that is properly authenticated and registered 

5 with the Attorney General and the Federal Trade 

6 Commission pursuant to the provisions of the Na7 tional Cooperation Research and Production Act of 

8 1993 (15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.). 

9 (2) CRITERIA.—The criteria to be used by a na10 tional standards development organization in the ac11 creditation of an independent health record bank 

12 under this section shall be designed to measure the 

13 competency, assets, practices, and procedures of the 

14 bank for purposes of conducting clearinghouse ac15 tivities. Such criteria shall include— 

16 (A) the technical capacity and electronic 

17 facilities of the bank for the receipt, trans18 mission, and handling of electronic health infor19 mation transactions; 

20 (B) the ability of the bank to process 

21 transactions to which HIPAA applies; 

22 (C) the backup and disaster recovery plans 

23 and capacity of the bank; 


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1 (D) the privacy practices, procedures, and 

2 employee training programs of the bank con3 sistent with HIPAA; and 

4 (E) the security practices, procedures, and 

5 employee training programs of the bank con6 sistent with HIPAA, including compliance with 

7 the HIPAA security rule that protected health 

8 information must only be viewable by the in9 tended recipient. 

10 (3) EXISTING CLEARINGHOUSES.—An inde11 pendent health record bank operated by an entity 

12 that has been certified under part C of title XI of 

13 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d et seq.) as 

14 a health care clearinghouse prior to the date of en15 actment of this Act shall be considered to be accred16 ited for purposes of paragraph (1). 

17 (c) INFORMATION REQUIREMENT.—An independent 

18 health record bank acting as a health care clearinghouse 

19 under this section shall ensure that reporting services are 

20 provided to individual consumers in a manner that in21 cludes the provision of lists of individuals or organizations 

22 that have accessed the health record account of the con23 sumer or to whom health information disclosures con24 cerning the consumer have been made in accordance with 

25 the requirements of HIPAA. 


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1 SEC. 6. AVAILABILITY AND USE OF HEALTHCARE INFORMA2 TION IN BANK. 

3 (a) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided in this sec4 tion, access to specified sections of, or an entire, electronic 

5 health record maintained by an independent health record 

6 bank concerning an individual shall only be provided with 

7 the prior authorization of the individual involved, as au8 thenticated as provided for under the standards prescribed 

9 by the Secretary under section 8. 

10 (b) AVAILABILITY OF DATA FOR RESEARCH AND

11 OTHER ACTIVITIES.—An independent health record bank 

12 may sell nonidentifiable and partially identifiable health 

13 information concerning and individual only if— 

14 (1) the bank and the individual involved agree 

15 to the sale; 

16 (2) the agreement provided for under para17 graph (1) includes parameters with respect to the 

18 disclosure of information involved and a process for 

19 the authorization of the further disclosure of par20 tially identifiable health information; 

21 (3) the data involved is to be used for research 

22 or other activities only as provided for in the agree23 ment under paragraph (1); 

24 (4) the data involved does not identify the indi25 vidual who is the subject of the data; 


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1 (5) the revenue to be derived from the sale of 

2 the data is collected by the bank and equally divided 

3 between the bank and the individual involved, except 

4 that revenue may also be distributed to healthcare 

5 providers and payers as incentives to contribute ad6 ditional data to the bank; and 

7 (6) the transaction otherwise meets the require8 ments and standards prescribed by the Secretary. 

9 (c) AVAILABILITY OF DATA FOR EMERGENCY

10 HEALTHCARE.— 

11 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

12 (A) given the size and nature of visits to 

13 emergency departments in the United States, 

14 readily available health data could make the dif15 ference between life and death; and 

16 (B) due to the case mix and volume of pa17 tients treated, emergency departments are well 

18 positioned to provide data for public health sur19 veillance, community risk assessment, research, 

20 education, training, quality improvement, and 

21 other uses. 

22 (2) USE OF DATA.—An independent health 

23 record bank may permit healthcare providers to ac24 cess, during an emergency department visit, a lim25 ited, authenticated data set concerning an individual 


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1 for emergency response purposes without the prior 

2 consent of the individual. Such limited data may in3 clude— 

4 (A) patient identification data, as deter5 mined appropriate by the individual involved; 

6 (B) provider identification that includes 

7 the use of a unique provider identifiers as pro8 vided for in section 1173 of the Social Security 

9 Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2); 

10 (C) payment data; 

11 (D) arrival and first assessment data; 

12 (E) data related to the individual’s vitals, 

13 allergies, and medication history; 

14 (F) data related to existing chronic prob15 lems and active clinical conditions of the indi16 vidual; and 

17 (G) data concerning physical examinations, 

18 procedures, results, and diagnosis data relating 

19 to the visit. 

20 (d) EFFECT ON HIPAA.—Nothing in this Act shall 

21 be construed to affect the scope, substance, or applicability 

22 of the part C of title XI of the Social Security Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 1320d et seq.) or HIPAA as such relates to indi24 vidually identifiable health information maintained in an 

25 independent health record bank. 


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1 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF FEDERAL AND STATE SECURITY 

2 AND CONFIDENTIALITY STANDARDS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Existing Federal security and 

4 confidentiality standards and State security and confiden5 tiality laws shall apply to this Act (and the amendments 

6 made by this Act) until such time as Congress acts to 

7 amend such standards. 

8 (b) PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND INFORMA9 TIONAL PROVISION.— 

10 (1) DESIGNATION OF AGENCY.—Each State 

11 with an independent health records bank operating 

12 in the State shall designate a State agency to be re13 sponsible for addressing complaints by residents of 

14 the State with respect to health records contained in 

15 the bank. 

16 (2) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—An inde17 pendent health record bank operating in a State 

18 shall provide the State authority designated under 

19 paragraph (1) with an informational filing that de20 scribes the policies of the bank, the types of infor21 mation sold by the bank, and other relevant informa22 tion determined appropriate by such authority. 

23 (3) INFORMATION.—An individual who has a 

24 health record maintained by an independent health 

25 record bank shall direct any concerns, problems, or 


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1 questions related to such record directly to the ap2 propriate State authority. 

3 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

4 (1) STATE SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

5 LAWS.—The term ‘‘State security and confidentiality 

6 laws’’ means State laws and regulations relating to 

7 the privacy and confidentiality of individually identi8 fiable health information or to the security of such 

9 information. 

10 (2) CURRENT FEDERAL SECURITY AND CON11 FIDENTIALITY STANDARDS.—The term ‘‘current 

12 Federal security and confidentiality standards’’ 

13 means the Federal privacy standards established 

14 pursuant to section 264(c) of the Health Insurance 

15 Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (42 

16 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note) and security standards estab17 lished under section 1173(d) of the Social Security 

18 Act. 

19 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean20 ing given such term when used in title XI of the So21 cial Security Act, as provided under section 1101(a) 

22 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1301(a)). 


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1 SEC. 8. REGULATORY OVERSIGHT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this Act, the Sec3 retary, acting through the Under Secretary for Technology 

4 or other appropriate official, shall— 

5 (1) develop a program to certify entities to op6 erate independent health record banks; 

7 (2) provide assistance to encourage the growth 

8 of independent health record banks; 

9 (3) track economic progress as it pertains to 

10 independent health records bank operators and indi11 viduals receiving non-taxable income with respect to 

12 accounts; 

13 (4) conduct public education activities regarding 

14 the creation and usage of the independent health 

15 records banks; 

16 (5) establish an interagency council under sub17 section (b) to develop standards for Federal security 

18 auditing for entities operating independent health 

19 record banks; and 

20 (6) carry out any other activities determined 

21 appropriate by the Secretary. 

22 (b) INTERAGENCY COUNCIL FOR SECURITY AUDIT23 ING.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta25 tion with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv26 ices and other appropriate Federal officials, shall esVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:56 Jun 07, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3454.IS S3454

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1 tablish an interagency council to develop standards 

2 for Federal security auditing as it relates to data se3 curity, authentication, and authorization rec4 ommendations, and reviews of independent health 

5 record banks. 

6 (2) DUTIES.—The interagency council estab7 lished under paragraph (1) shall take into consider8 ation the following factors when developing rec9 ommendations for security, authentication, and au10 thorization of data in independent health record 

11 banks: 

12 (A) The number and type of factors used 

13 for the exchange of protected health informa14 tion. 

15 (B) Requiring that individuals, who have 

16 health records that are maintained by the bank, 

17 be notified of a security breech with respect to 

18 such records, and any corrective action taken 

19 on behalf of the individual. 

20 (C) Requiring that information sent to, or 

21 received from, an independent health record 

22 bank that has been designated as high-risk 

23 should be authenticated through the use of 

24 methods such as the periodic changing of pass25 words, the use of biometrics, the use of tokens 


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1 or other technology as determined appropriate 

2 by the council. 

3 (D) Recommendations for entities oper4 ating independent health record banks, includ5 ing requiring analysis of the potential risk of 

6 health transaction security breeches based on 

7 set criteria. 

8 (E) The conduct of audits of independent 

9 health record banks to ensure that they are in 

10 compliance with the requirements and stand11 ards established under this Act. 

12 (3) COMPLIANCE REPORT.—The interagency 

13 council established under this subsection shall annu14 ally submit to the Secretary a report on compliance 

15 by independent health record banks with the require16 ments and standard under this Act. Such report 

17 shall be included in the report required under sub18 section (d). 

19 (c) INTERAGENCY MEMORANDUM OF UNDER20 STANDING.—The Secretary and the Secretary of Health 

21 and Human Services, and other Federal officials that may 

22 be impacted by this Act, shall ensure, through the execu23 tion of an interagency memorandum of understanding 

24 among such Secretaries, that— 


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1 (1) regulations, rulings, and interpretations 

2 issued by such Secretaries or officials relating to the 

3 same matter over which 2 or more such Secretaries 

4 or officials have responsibility under this Act are ad5 ministered so as to have the same effect at all times; 

6 and 

7 (2) coordination of policies relating to enforcing 

8 the same requirements through such Secretaries or 

9 officials in order to have coordinated enforcement 

10 strategy that avoids duplication of enforcement ef11 forts and assigns priorities in enforcement. 

12 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

14 the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary for 

15 Technology, shall submit to Committee on Health, Edu16 cation, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Fi17 nance of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

18 Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means of the 

19 House of Representatives, a report that— 

20 (1) describes individual owner or institution op21 erator economic progress as achieved through inde22 pendent health record bank usage and existing bar23 riers to such usage; 


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1 (2) describes progress in security auditing as 

2 provided for by the interagency security council 

3 under subsection (b); and 

4 (3) contains information on the other core re5 sponsibilities of the Secretary as described in sub6 section (a). 

7 SEC. 9. PENALTIES FOR FRAUD AND ABUSE. 

8 The penalties provided for in section 1177(b) of the 

9 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–6) shall apply to 

10 the wrongful disclosure of information collected, main11 tained, or made available by an independent health record 

12 bank under this Act, including disclosures by any employ13 ees or associates of any such bank or other healthcare en14 tity using or disclosing such information. 

15 SEC. 10. TAX CREDIT FOR EMPLOYER-PROVIDED EM16 PLOYEE INDEPENDENT HEALTH RECORD 

17 BANK ACCOUNT FEES. 

18 (a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—Subpart D of part IV 

19 of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code 

20 of 1986 (relating to business related credits) is amended 

21 by adding at the end the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 45N. EMPLOYER-PROVIDED EMPLOYEE INDE2 PENDENT HEALTH RECORD BANK ACCOUNT 

3 FEES. 

4 ‘‘(a) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT.—For purposes of 

5 section 38, the independent health record bank account 

6 investment credit determined under this section with re7 spect to any taxpayer for any taxable year is an amount 

8 equal to the independent health record bank account in9 vestment provided by such taxpayer during the taxable 

10 year. 

11 ‘‘(b) INDEPENDENT HEALTH RECORD BANK AC12 COUNT INVESTMENT.—For purposes of this section, the 

13 term ‘independent health record bank account investment’ 

14 means, with respect to each employee of the taxpayer for 

15 any taxable year, an amount equal to the lesser of— 

16 ‘‘(1) 50 percent of the cost for such employee 

17 to maintain an independent health record bank ac18 count paid by the taxpayer during the taxable year, 

19 or 

20 ‘‘(2) $50. 

21 ‘‘(c) INDEPENDENT HEALTH RECORD BANK AC22 COUNT.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘inde23 pendent health record bank account’ has the meaning 

24 given to the term ‘account’ under section 3(1) of the Inde25 pendent Health Record Bank Act of 2006. 


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1 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.—No deduction or credit (other 

2 than under this section) shall be allowed under this chap3 ter with respect to any expense which is taken into account 

4 under subsection (a) in determining the credit under this 

5 section. 

6 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each taxpayer shall make 

8 such reports to the Secretary and to employees of 

9 the taxpayer regarding— 

10 ‘‘(A) independent health record bank ac11 count investments made with respect to such 

12 employee during any calendar year, and 

13 ‘‘(B) such other information as the Sec14 retary may require. 

15 ‘‘(2) TIME FOR MAKING REPORTS.—The reports 

16 required by this subsection— 

17 ‘‘(A) shall be filed at such time and in 

18 such manner as the Secretary prescribes, and 

19 ‘‘(B) shall be furnished to employees— 

20 ‘‘(i) not later than January 31 of the 

21 calendar year following the calendar year 

22 to which such reports relate, and 

23 ‘‘(ii) in such manner as the Secretary 

24 prescribes. 


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1 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may prescribe 

2 such regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to 

3 carry out this section. 

4 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 

5 apply with respect to any independent health record bank 

6 account investments made by the taxpayer for the 5-tax7 able year period beginning with the first taxable year dur8 ing which such investments are made by the taxpayer.’’. 

9 (b) CREDIT TREATED AS BUSINESS CREDIT.—Sec10 tion 38(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating 

11 to current year business credit) is amended by striking 

12 ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (29), by striking the period 

13 at the end of paragraph (30) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and 

14 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(31) the independent health record bank ac16 count investment credit determined under section 

17 45N(a).’’. 

18 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec19 tions for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 

20 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 

21 adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45N. Employer-provided employee independent health record bank account fees.’’. 

22 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 (e) ADDITIONAL INCENTIVE FOR CONSUMERS PAR2 TICIPATING IN IHRB.—Revenue generated by an inde3 pendent health record bank and received by an account 

4 holder, healthcare entity, or healthcare payer shall not be 

5 considered taxable income under the Internal Revenue 

6 Code of 1986. 

Æ 


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