Modernization of Medical Records Access for Veterans Act of 2017

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program establishing a secure, patient-centered, portable medical records system, that would allow veterans to have access to their Personal Health Information, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Modernization of Medical Records Access for Veterans Act of 2017 2. Department of Veterans Affairs pilot program on secure, patient-centered, portable medical records storage system (a) Pilot program Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall commence a pilot program under which veterans who are enrolled in the patient enrollment system under section 1705 of title 38, United States Code, use a portable medical records storage system described in subsection (e) to store and share with Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers and community health care providers, records of their individual medical history. (b) Selection of locations The Secretary shall select not less than one Veterans Integrated Services Network in which to carry out the pilot program under subsection (a). (c) Contracts (1) Authority The Secretary shall seek to enter into a contract using competitive procedures with an appropriate entity for the provision of the medical records storage system described in subsection (e). (2) Notice of competition Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue a request for proposals for the contract described in paragraph (1). Such request shall be full and open to any contractor that has an existing commercially available medical records storage capability described in subsection (e). (3) Selection Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall award a contract to an offeror pursuant to the request for proposals under paragraph (2) if at least one acceptable offer is submitted. (d) Duration of pilot program The Secretary shall carry out a pilot program under this section for a period of at least 12 months. After carrying out such program for 12 months, the Secretary may terminate the program, continue the program, expand the program to include additional locations, or implement the use of portable medical records storage systems on a national basis. (e) Requirements of portable medical records storage system A medical records storage system described in this subsection is a physical device that meets the following requirements: (1) Capability to store not less than four gigabytes of electronic health records on a physical device, which is not larger than the dimensions of a credit card, issued to each veteran enrolled in the pilot program. (2) Capability to be used by substantially all electronic health records systems certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT on or before January 1, 2017. (3) Capability to limit access to electronic health records stored on each device to the patient and health care providers. (4) Capability for health care providers to securely access, annotate, and add electronic health records to the physical device, including in instances where the health care provider is not in possession of the physical storage device. (5) Requirement that all electronic health records transferred from a health care provider over the internet to the physical storage device be encrypted. (6) Requirement that the portable medical records system can operate without persistent storage of any electronic health records on the internet or within a cloud computing repository. (7) Capability to provide a replacement device containing an up-to-date electronic health record, if the original physical storage device has been removed from the owner’s possession or otherwise rendered inoperable. (f) Definitions In this section: (1) The term dimensions of a credit card (2) The term electronic health records (g) Prohibition on new appropriations No additional funds are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Summary: Modernization of Medical Records Access for Veterans Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out in at least one Veterans Integrated Services Network a pilot program for at least a 12-month period during which veterans enrolled in the VA's patient enrollment system will use a portable medical records storage system to store and share with VA health care providers and community health care providers records of their individual medical histories. The VA shall seek to enter into a contract, using competitive procedures, with an appropriate entity to furnish such storage system. The bill specifies system requirements, including: (1) the capability to store at least four gigabytes of electronic health records on a physical device no larger than a credit card, and (2) the capability to be used by substantially all electronic health records systems certified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT on or before January 1, 2017.