Premier Offers Insights to Inform Congressional Efforts on Data Privacy

*:last-child]:mb-0 [&>*:last-child]:pb-0 [&>p]:font-normal text-left [&>.prm-button-bar]:justify-start [&_.portable-text-link]:font-semibold [&_.portable-text-link]:underline [&_.prm-button-bar_a]:no-underline [&_li]:text-light-gray [&_p]:text-light-gray">

Premier offered insights and policy recommendations to inform the priorities of the newly formed House Energy and Commerce Committee's Privacy Working Group. In response to a request for information, Premier stressed that the rapid pace of technological innovation in healthcare has strained the boundaries of existing federal privacy standards and the absence of a comprehensive federal data privacy law has led to a patchwork of legal requirements across states that has created burdens for providers, suppliers, payers and patients. In its letter, Premier recommended that the working group focus its legislative efforts on:

• Creating a uniform, predictable federal privacy standard that both spurs investment in innovation and engenders consumers' trust;
• Clarifying data sensitivity classification and handling requirements by the type of data, rather than the type of entity;
• Incorporating lessons learned from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) about the universal benefit of one-time patient consent for treatment, payment or healthcare operations at the "point of service;"
• Collaborating with private sector experts to develop baseline cybersecurity standards that are rooted in specificity, evolvability and maturity;
• Anchoring cybersecurity guidance to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, which are widely used and developed through public-private consultation;
• Clearly outlining pathways to acceptable data use for the training of AI models at the federal level;
• Clearly defining the authorities available to enforcement authorities; and
• Working with healthcare stakeholders to build a privacy model that uses the business case for trustworthy and secure health technology to incentivize uptake of sector-wide standards.

While there has been interest in Congress passing a comprehensive data privacy law, to date no law has advanced. The formation of the working group by Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Committee Vice Chair John Joyce, MD (R-PA) signals a renewed commitment to revisiting the issue.

Download:

Premier Response to House Energy & Commerce Privacy Workgroup RFI