114 
(5) PUBLICATION.—All recommendations made 
by the Partnership pursuant to this section shall be 
published in the Federal Register and on the Inter-
net website of the Office of the National Coordi-
nator. 
(6) 
REQUIREMENT
FOR
CERTAIN
REC-
OMMENDATIONS.—The Partnership may not issue 
any recommendation that affects an individual’s 
right to health information privacy unless such rec-
ommendation receives the affirmative support of the 
consumer or patient organization representative of 
the 
Partnership 
appointed 
under 
subsection 
(b)(1)(A)(vi)(I). 
(7) PILOT TESTING.—The Secretary may con-
duct, or recognize a private entity or entities to con-
duct, a pilot project to test the standards and imple-
mentation specifications developed under this section 
in order to provide for the efficient implementation 
of the standards and implementation specifications 
described in this subsection prior to issuing such 
recommendations. 
(8) PUBLIC INPUT.—The Partnership shall con-
duct open public meetings and develop a process to 
allow for public comment on the schedule and rec-
ommendations described in this section. Such proc-
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ess shall ensure that such comments will be sub-
mitted within 30 days of the publication of a rec-
ommendation under this section. 
(9) FEDERAL ACTION.—Not later than 90 days 
after the issuance of a recommendation from the 
Partnership under this subsection, the Secretary, in 
collaboration with representatives of other relevant 
Federal agencies as determined appropriate by the 
President, shall jointly review such recommendation. 
If appropriate, the President shall provide for the 
adoption by the Federal Government of any stand-
ard or implementation specification contained in 
such recommendation only after providing an oppor-
tunity for public comment in accordance with section 
553 of title 5, United States Code. Such determina-
tion shall be published in the Federal Register and 
on the Internet website of the Office of the National 
Coordinator within 30 days after such determination 
is made. 
(10) CONSISTENCY.—The standards and imple-
mentation specifications described in this subsection 
shall be consistent with the privacy protections in 
title I and the standards for information trans-
actions and data elements developed pursuant to the 
regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the 
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Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 
of 1996. 
(d) CERTIFICATION.— 
(1) DEVELOPING CRITERIA.—The Partnership, 
in consultation with the Secretary, may recognize a 
private entity or entities for the purpose of devel-
oping and recommending to the Partnership criteria 
to certify that appropriate categories of health infor-
mation technology products that claim to be in com-
pliance with applicable standards and implementa-
tion specifications adopted under this title have es-
tablished such compliance. 
(2) ADOPTION
OF
CRITERIA.—The Secretary, 
based upon the recommendations of the Partnership, 
shall review, and if appropriate, adopt such criteria. 
(3) CONDUCTING
CERTIFICATION.—The Sec-
retary may recognize a private entity or entities to 
conduct the certifications described under paragraph 
(1) using the criteria adopted by the Secretary 
under this subsection. 
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed as disrupting existing activities de-
scribed in subsection (c) or (d). 
(f) REQUIREMENT
TO
CONSIDER
RECOMMENDA-
TIONS.—In carrying out the activities described in sub-
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sections (c) and (d), the Partnership shall adopt and inte-
grate the recommendations of the American Health Infor-
mation Community that are adopted by the Secretary. 
(g) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 
$2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2010. 
SEC. 203. AMERICAN HEALTH INFORMATION COMMUNITY 
POLICIES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com-
mittee to be known as the American Health Information 
Community (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Commu-
nity’’). The Community shall— 
(1) provide advice to the Secretary and the 
heads of any relevant Federal agencies concerning 
the policy considerations related to health informa-
tion technology; 
(2) not later than 1 year after the date of en-
actment of this title, and annually thereafter, make 
recommendations concerning a policy framework for 
the development and adoption of a nationwide inter-
operable health information technology infrastruc-
ture; 
(3) not later than 1 year after the date of en-
actment of this title, and annually thereafter, make 
recommendation concerning national policies for 
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adoption by the Federal Government, and voluntary 
adoption by private entities, to support the wide-
spread adoption of health information technology, 
including— 
(A) the protection of personal health infor-
mation, including policies concerning the indi-
vidual’s ability to control the acquisition, uses, 
and disclosures of personal health information; 
(B) methods to protect personal health in-
formation from improper use and disclosures 
and methods to notify patients if their personal 
health information is wrongfully disclosed; 
(C) methods to facilitate and secure access 
to such individual’s personal health information; 
(D) the appropriate uses of a nationwide 
personal health information infrastructure in-
cluding— 
(i) the collection of quality data and 
public reporting; 
(ii) biosurveillance and public health; 
(iii) medical and clinical research; and 
(iv) drug safety; 
(E) fostering the public understanding of 
health information technology; 
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