Chairman Cassidy Delivers Remarks During Hearing on Improving Americans’ Access to Health Care Data, Empowering & Protecting Patients

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, delivered remarks during today's hearing on how the U.S. Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is improving health outcomes using patient health information.

Click here to watch the full hearing.

Cassidy's speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will please come to order.

Increasingly, patient care happens beyond the exam rooms.

Any of us can pull up our health records, make an appointment, refill a prescription on our phones. A huge advantage to patients and doctors. I know, I've been both.

Digital access to our health records allows doctors and hospitals to share patients' information expediently. This is at least convenient, and at most lifesaving.

Whether you're out of town and need to go to the emergency room, or maybe you want a second opinion or to see a specialist; having easy digital access to your health information makes it easier to get the care you need.

Congress established the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) in 2009 to transition the health care system to a fully digital system. Today we'll hear from ONC on their work to standardize health information sharing and put patients in the driver seat. While we have made enormous progress in this goal, there is still more to do.

There continues to be an issue of information blocking, where one party blocks another from sharing data even with the patient's consent. Now this is interesting because hospitals will tell me that the records can go back and forth. But speaking to patients, they feel that is not the case. Part of the goal of this committee hearing is to find out which is more true.

The Biden administration failed to respond to a single case of information blocking. Maybe it's not happening anymore. But that's not the feedback I'm getting from patients.

I practiced medicine for over 25 years. You need every piece of information to treat a patient well. Patients and their doctors should always have access to their health information, period. That is why I led efforts to outlaw information blocking in the 21st Century Cures Act. I thank the Trump Administration for taking action. Our witness here today, Dr. Keane is working with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate allegations of information blocking and taking action when appropriate. I look forward to hearing from you today, Dr. Keane.

We must also consider how Congress can continue to modernize patient access to information. ONC created the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, or TEFCA, to standardize health information sharing and give patients the power. Just last month, almost 500 million health records were exchanged through TEFCA in a secure and protected manner. Improving ways to exchange information is pro-patient and will deliver better care. We must redouble our efforts to make sure that bad actors do not use TEFCA for their own goals.

As a doctor, patients are the priority.

We're living in a digital age. With that, like anything else, there are advantages and disadvantages. I want this Committee to expand those advantages and limit those disadvantages as much as we can, with the goal of putting patients first.

That's why I introduced the Health Information Privacy Reform Act. The Committee also last week passed on a bipartisan basis my Health Care Cybersecurity and Resiliency Act to respond to the continuing threat of cyberattacks.

Protecting patient information is bipartisan and essential to deliver modern care. I look forward to discussing how we can continue to do that.

I now recognize Ranking Member Sanders.

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