IB 

Union Calendar No. 277 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2406 

[Report No. 110–451] 

To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to increase 

its efforts in support of the integration of the healthcare information 

enterprise in the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2007 

Mr. GORDON of Tennessee introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Science and Technology 

NOVEMBER 15, 2007 

Additional sponsors: Mr. GINGREY, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. WU, 

Mr. MATHESON, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CHANDLER, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Mr. COSTELLO, Ms. HOOLEY, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. RICHARDSON, Mr. HILL, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. MITCHELL, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. 

ROTHMAN, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. ROSS, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. 

MELANCON, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, and Mr. SESTAK

NOVEMBER 15, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 21, 2007] 

A BILL 

To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to increase its efforts in support of the integration 


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of the healthcare information enterprise in the United 

States. 

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 ‘‘Healthcare Information 

5 Technology Enterprise Integration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The National Institute of Standards and 

9 Technology, because of the electronic commerce, infor10 mation technology and security expertise in its lab11 oratories and the healthcare component of the Mal12 colm Baldrige National Quality Award, and its long 

13 history of working with the information technology 

14 and healthcare industries, is well equipped to com15 plement the healthcare information technology imple16 mentation efforts as established by Executive Order 

17 13335 of April 27, 2004, by addressing the technical 

18 challenges posed by healthcare information enterprise 

19 integration. 

20 (2) Therefore, it is in the national interest for 

21 the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

22 to accelerate its efforts— 

23 (A) to participate in the development of 

24 technical standards, standards conformance tests, 


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1 and enterprise integration processes that are nec2 essary to increase efficiency and quality of care, 

3 and lower costs in the healthcare industry; and 

4 (B) ensuring that all components of the 

5 United States healthcare infrastructure can be a 

6 part of an electronic information network that is 

7 reliable, interoperable, and secure. 

8 SEC. 3. HEALTHCARE INFORMATION ENTERPRISE INTEGRA9 TION INITIATIVE. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the National 

11 Institute of Standards and Technology shall establish an 

12 initiative for advancing healthcare information enterprise 

13 integration within the United States. In carrying out this 

14 section, the Director shall involve various units of the Na15 tional Institute of Standards and Technology, including its 

16 laboratories and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality 

17 Program. This initiative shall build upon ongoing efforts 

18 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the 

19 private sector, and other Federal agencies, shall involve con20 sortia that include government and industry, and shall be 

21 designed to permit healthcare information enterprise inte22 gration. These efforts shall complement ongoing activities 

23 occurring under Executive Order 13335 of April 27, 2004. 

24 (b) TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES.—In order to carry out 

25 this section, the Director may focus on— 


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1 (1) information technology standards and inter2 operability analysis, which may include the develop3 ment of technical testbeds; 

4 (2) supporting the establishment of conformance 

5 testing infrastructure, including software conformance 

6 and certification; 

7 (3) security; 

8 (4) medical device communication; 

9 (5) supporting the provisioning of technical ar10 chitecture products for management and retrieval; 

11 and 

12 (6) information management including elec13 tronic health records management, health information 

14 usability, and access and decision support. 

15 (c) OTHER ACTIVITIES.—The Director may assist 

16 healthcare representatives and organizations and Federal 

17 agencies in the development of technical roadmaps that 

18 identify the remaining steps needed to ensure that technical 

19 standards for application protocols, interoperability, data 

20 integrity, and security, as well as the corollary conformance 

21 test protocols, will be in place. These roadmaps shall rely 

22 upon voluntary consensus standards where possible con23 sistent with Federal technology transfer laws. 

24 (d) PLANS AND REPORTS.—Not later than 90 days 

25 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:26 Nov 15, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2406.RH H2406

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1 after, the Director shall transmit a report to the Committee 

2 on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives 

3 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor4 tation of the Senate on the activities of the National Insti5 tute of Standards and Technology under this section. 

6 SEC. 4. FEDERAL HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECH7 NOLOGY SYSTEMS AND INFRASTRUCTURE. 

8 (a) GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS.—Not later than 12 

9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

10 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in 

11 consultation with industry and appropriate Federal agen12 cies, shall report on development of technology-neutral in13 formation technology infrastructure guidelines and stand14 ards, or the adoption of existing technology-neutral indus15 try guidelines and private sector standards, for use by Fed16 eral agencies to enable those agencies to effectively select and 

17 utilize healthcare information technologies in a manner 

18 that is— 

19 (1) sufficiently secure to meet the needs of those 

20 agencies (as is consistent with the Computer Security 

21 Act of 1987, as amended, section 225 of the Homeland 

22 Security Act of 2002, and title III of the E-Govern23 ment Act of 2002), their transaction partners, and the 

24 general public; 


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1 (2) interoperable, to the maximum extent pos2 sible; and 

3 (3) inclusive of ongoing Federal efforts that pro4 vide technical expertise to harmonize existing stand5 ards and assist in the development of interoperability 

6 specifications. 

7 (b) ELEMENTS.—The guidelines and standards devel8 oped under subsection (a) shall— 

9 (1) promote the use by Federal agencies of com10 mercially available products that incorporate the 

11 guidelines and standards developed under subsection 

12 (a); 

13 (2) develop uniform testing procedures suitable 

14 for determining the conformance of commercially 

15 available and Federal healthcare information tech16 nology products with the guidelines and standards; 

17 (3) support and promote the testing of electronic 

18 healthcare information technologies utilized by Fed19 eral agencies; 

20 (4) provide protection and security profiles; 

21 (5) establish a core set of interoperability speci22 fications in transactions between Federal agencies 

23 and their transaction partners; and 


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1 (6) include validation criteria to enable Federal 

2 agencies to select healthcare information technologies 

3 appropriate to their needs. 

4 (c) REPORTS.—Not later than 18 months after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Direc6 tor shall transmit to the Congress a report that includes 

7 a description and analysis of— 

8 (1) the level of interoperability and security of 

9 technologies for sharing healthcare information among 

10 Federal agencies; and 

11 (2) the problems Federal agencies are having 

12 with, and the progress such agencies are making to13 ward, ensuring interoperable and secure healthcare 

14 information systems and electronic healthcare records. 

15 SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS. 

16 (a) HEALTHCARE INFORMATION ENTERPRISE INTE17 GRATION RESEARCH CENTERS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

19 Institute of Standards and Technology, in consulta20 tion the Director of the National Science Foundation 

21 and other appropriate Federal agencies, shall estab22 lish a program of assistance to institutions of higher 

23 education (or consortia thereof which may include 

24 nonprofit entities and Federal Government laboraVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:26 Nov 15, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2406.RH H2406

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1 tories) to establish multidisciplinary Centers for 

2 Healthcare Information Enterprise Integration. 

3 (2) REVIEW; COMPETITION.—Grants shall be 

4 awarded under this subsection on a merit-reviewed, 

5 competitive basis. 

6 (3) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the Centers shall 

7 be— 

8 (A) to generate innovative approaches to 

9 healthcare information enterprise integration by 

10 conducting cutting-edge, multidisciplinary re11 search on the systems challenges to healthcare de12 livery; and 

13 (B) the development and use of information 

14 technologies and other complementary fields. 

15 (4) RESEARCH AREAS.—Research areas may in16 clude— 

17 (A) the interfaces between human informa18 tion and communications technology systems; 

19 (B) voice-recognition systems; 

20 (C) software that improves interoperability 

21 and connectivity among systems; 

22 (D) software dependability in systems crit23 ical to healthcare delivery; 


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1 (E) measurement of the impact of informa2 tion technologies on the quality and productivity 

3 of healthcare; 

4 (F) healthcare information enterprise man5 agement; and 

6 (G) information technology security and in7 tegrity. 

8 (5) APPLICATIONS.—An institution of higher 

9 education (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding 

10 under this subsection shall submit an application to 

11 the Director at such time, in such manner, and con12 taining such information as the Director may re13 quire. The application shall include, at a minimum, 

14 a description of— 

15 (A) the research projects that will be under16 taken by the Center and the respective contribu17 tions of the participating entities; 

18 (B) how the Center will promote active col19 laboration among scientists and engineers from 

20 different disciplines, such as information tech21 nology, biologic sciences, management, social 

22 sciences, and other appropriate disciplines; 

23 (C) technology transfer activities to dem24 onstrate and diffuse the research results, tech25 nologies, and knowledge; and 


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1 (D) how the Center will contribute to the 

2 education and training of researchers and other 

3 professionals in fields relevant to healthcare in4 formation enterprise integration. 

5 (b) NATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

6 AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.—The National High-Per7 formance Computing Program established by section 101 of 

8 the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 

9 5511) shall coordinate Federal research and development 

10 programs related to the development and deployment of 

11 health information technology, including activities related 

12 to— 

13 (1) computer infrastructure; 

14 (2) data security; 

15 (3) development of large-scale, distributed, reli16 able computing systems; 

17 (4) wired, wireless, and hybrid high-speed net18 working; 

19 (5) development of software and software-inten20 sive systems; 

21 (6) human-computer interaction and informa22 tion management technologies; and 

23 (7) the social and economic implications of in24 formation technology. 


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1 (c) STRATEGIC PLAN FOR HEALTHCARE TECH2 NOLOGIES AND CLASSIFICATION.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

4 Institute of Standards and Technology, in consulta5 tion with the Director of the National Science Foun6 dation, not later than 90 days after the date of enact7 ment of this Act, shall establish a task force whose 

8 membership includes representatives of other Federal 

9 agencies and industry groups (such as the American 

10 Health Information Management Association and the 

11 American Medical Informatics Association) to develop 

12 a strategic plan including recommendations for— 

13 (A) the development, adoption, and mainte14 nance of terminologies and classifications; 

15 (B) gaining commitment of terminology 

16 and classification stakeholders (such as devel17 opers, end users, and other service and tech18 nology suppliers) to principles and guidelines for 

19 open and transparent processes to enable cost-ef20 fective interoperability and complete and accu21 rate information; 

22 (C) the design of a centralized authority or 

23 governance model, including principles for its 

24 operation and funding scenarios; 


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1 (D) United States participation in the 

2 International Health Terminology Standards 

3 Development Organization; and 

4 (E) any other issues identified by the task 

5 force. 

6 (2) TASK FORCE REPORT.—The task force shall 

7 report its findings and recommendations to the Com8 mittee on Science and Technology of the House of 

9 Representatives not later than 18 months after the 

10 date of enactment of this Act. The task force shall ter11 minate after transmitting such report. 

12 (3) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—The 

13 task force established under this subsection shall not 

14 be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 

15 U.S.C. App.). 

16 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director 

18 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology for 

19 carrying out this Act $8,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

20 2009 and 2010, to be derived from amounts authorized 

21 under section 3001 of Public Law 110–69. 


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Union Calendar No. 277 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2406 

[Report No. 110

–451] 

A BILL 

To authorize the National Institute of Standards 

enterprise in the United States. of the integration of the healthcare information and Technology to increase its efforts in support 

NOVEMBER 15, 2007 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with BILLS