Privacy Legislation Should Not Impede Advances in Healthcare

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Kelly Broadway, 202-808-8853
kbroadway@health-innovation.org

Privacy Legislation Should Not Impede Advances in Healthcare

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of tomorrow’s House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, “Innovation, Data, And Commerce Subcommittee Hearing: “Promoting U.S. Innovation and Individual Liberty through a National Standard for Data Privacy,” the Health Innovation Alliance (HIA) urged members to explicitly carve out existing healthcare laws and regulations in any privacy legislation considered by the Committee.

“Exchanging health information is vital to the practice of medicine and its regulation. Going back to the Hippocratic oath, privacy has been a necessary tenet of healthcare – that’s why there are a host of laws that protect patient privacy.

Congress has worked for years to improve the access, exchange, and use of health data. As the Committee on Energy and Commerce revisits consumer privacy legislation, the Health Innovation Alliance encourages lawmakers to use the opportunity to take a closer, more thoughtful look at the policies intended to keep private health information from being publicly sold and ensure that they do not stop advances in medicine.”

Click to read HIA’s letter.

Importance of Information-Sharing & Technology Highlighted in Omnibus Bill

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Kelly Broadway, 202-808-8853
kbroadway@health-innovation.org

Importance of Information-Sharing & Technology Highlighted in Omnibus Bill

Washington, D.C. – The Health Innovation Alliance (HIA) commends lawmakers for including priorities and revisions requested by HIA in the end-of-year spending bill, including expanding access to telehealth services and improving our public health system.

Several changes made to the PREVENT Pandemics Act included in the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2023 recognize the need to use state-based systems, ensure experts from states are in the room while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works to modernize public health data, and guarantees trust and privacy for individuals. A successful partnership building off what already works between the private sector, state and local officials, and the CDC is crucial to improving public health surveillance information.

"HIA looks forward to building off the successful changes to the PREVENT Pandemics Act to ensure the CDC implements a robust, trustworthy, public health information infrastructure that relies upon the private sector experts working at the state and local levels," said Joel White, Executive Director, HIA. “We will work with the 118th Congress to ensure appropriate oversight of the CDC and to move our public health system away from outdated technology.”

HIA has been actively engaged in efforts to expand telehealth access and is pleased lawmakers included a two-year extension allowing patients to continue using health savings accounts to pay for telehealth services and extended access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries through 2024. Our calls for delaying the requirement for in-person visits for mental health services through telehealth were also answered and, as such, will help those struggling to access or continue to access much-needed care.

“Making telehealth available across employer plans will help more Americans get access to telehealth going forward, and we look forward to collaborating with lawmakers to advance that policy next year,” said Brett Meeks, Vice President, HIA.

CDC’s Focus is on Control, Not What Works for the American People

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Kelly Broadway, 202-808-8853
kbroadway@health-innovation.org

CDC’s Focus is on Control, Not What Works for the American People

Washington, D.C. – Recent comments by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky supporting the Improving DATA in Public Health Act highlight the agency’s refreshing acknowledgment that more must be done to improve how public health data is gathered, shared and used. While the Health Innovation Alliance (HIA) strongly supports strengthening the system, the CDC should not be rewarded for its self-described failure with a broad new authority to mandate any data it wants from anyone it wants. No federal agency should have the sweeping data collection authority outlined in the Improving DATA in Public Health Act.

The CDC has repeatedly proven that it is incapable of handling a national database run by public health bureaucrats. A report released today by the U.S. House Subcommittee on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes similar acknowledgment by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and that it had “identified numerous longstanding challenges in the federal government’s management of public health data,” including the lack of common data standards and interoperability among varying public health data systems, and “the complete lack of a public health IT infrastructure.” The bungling of COVID-19 data is the perfect example of the CDC’s failure to properly collect, use, and share consistent and clear public health data to protect Americans.

Instead of giving the CDC more power and more money – it has already received more than $1 billion in funding to improve data collection – Congress should pass legislation increasing oversight of the CDC.

HIA supports the following:

• Build on what works at the state and local levels instead of creating untested, unknown federal databases

• Avoid pouring yet more federal dollars into the CDC that duplicate work

• Reduce unnecessary and burdensome red tape on state and local public health entities as well as providers responding to pandemics on the ground that offer no value to patients or taxpayers

Everyone agrees, the CDC needs serious reforms. Unfortunately, doubling down with more resources and more control is not the answer. HIA will work with policymakers to improve public health data by making sure consistent actionable data is available when it is needed by front-line health workers, patients, and public health entities.