Top News
Watch the AMIA 2024 Virtual Hill Day Recap Webinar Recording
Missed the webinar? You can watch a recording of the AMIA Public Policy team and participants sharing information about the connections and progress made, along with experiences from AMIA’s first-ever Virtual Hill Day. You will learn what this means for AMIA in the future and how AMIA can continue to build on this momentum.
AMIA Signs Letters with Patient ID Now Coalition to Repeal Section 510
Along with more than 150 organizations, AMIA supported Patient ID Now’s letters to Senate and House of Representatives leadership to repeal Section 510 of the Fiscal Year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill prohibiting HHS from allocating funds to promulgate or adopt a national patient health identifier standard.
AMIA Comment Letter to FDA on Latest Guidance Document
AMIA submitted recommendations to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) latest draft guidance, “Collection of Race and Ethnicity Data in Clinical Trials and Clinical Studies for FDA-Regulated Medical Products.” AMIA’s comment letter includes suggestions for self-identification, inclusion of CDC Race and Ethnicity Code Set Version 1.2, MENA category, recommended question format, and outlook for the future.
Regulatory
FTC Health Breach Notification Rule
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the finalized changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) that aims to strengthen and modernize the rule by clarifying its applicability to health apps and expanding the information that covered entities must provide to consumers when notifying them of a breach of their health data. Last year, AMIA commented on the HBNR proposed rule recommending the need to address the rapidly changing digital health landscape with health apps, wearable technology, and the increased use of telehealth. The FTC did take steps to lessen this gap.
HHS New Rule Strengthening Nondiscrimination Protections and Advance Civil Rights in Health Care
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights issued a final rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act advancing protections against discrimination in health care. The final rule strengthens protections against discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability, reduces language access barriers, expands physical and digital accessibility, and tackles bias in health technology. The final rule includes requirements of covered healthcare providers, insurers, grantees, and others, to proactively let people know that language assistance services and accessibility services are available at no cost to patients and clarifies that covered health programs and activities offered via telehealth must also be accessible to individuals with limited English proficiency, and individuals with disabilities.
NIH National Library of Medicine Searches for a New Director
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the search for a new Director of the National Library of Medicine. The vacancy announcement is open until July 1.
Congress
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee to Review Two-Year Telehealth Extension
The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee is set to mark up a two-year extension of Medicare telehealth rules that have allowed for more reimbursement of virtual care since Congress endorsed them during the pandemic. The current Medicare telehealth rules are set to expire at the end of this year. Additionally, there are two bills that would make the rules during the pandemic permanent, CONNECT for Health Act (46 Cosponsors) by Ways and Means member Rep. Mike Thompson (D-California District 4) and Telehealth Modernization Act (12 Cosponsors) by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Georgia District 1). AMIA has supported telehealth expansion in the past on how telehealth expands health care access for many patients, especially those in underserved and rural areas.
Senators Introduce Future of AI Innovation Act
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Senators Todd Young (R-Indiana), John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), members of the Commerce Committee, introduced the bipartisan Future of AI Innovation Act. The bill’s objective is to set foundations aiding U.S. competitiveness in the global race to develop AI. The legislation promotes the approach of partnerships between government, business, civil society, and academia to advance AI research. The bill would authorize the U.S. AI Safety Institute at the National Institute of Standards and Technology to promote the development of voluntary standards and create testbeds with national labs to accelerate AI advancements. Text includes how the Office of Science and Technology would establish a list of priorities for publicly available federal government data for training and evaluating AI systems in health care.
Representative Bera RFI on the State of AI in Health Care
AMIA received a request for information (RFI) from House of Representative Ami Bera (D- California District 6) regarding the current state of AI in health care. Aspects in the RFI include how extensively is AI implemented in health institutions, existing evidence regarding efficacy and accuracy of AI-driven healthcare solutions, ethical and regulatory consideration, and emerging trends. Be sure to keep an eye out for follow up in future editions of Washington Download.
View the RFI from Representative Berra.
ICYMI
CMS Releases FY 2025 Hospital IPPS and LTCH PPS Proposed Rule
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the FY 2025 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) proposed rule. The proposed rule would revise the Medicare hospital IPPS for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals. Additionally, the proposed rule would make changes relating to Medicare graduate medical education for teaching hospitals by adding an additional 200 residency positions. The Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program would have changes to measures in the proposed rule.
Public comments are due by 5 p.m. ET on June 10. Learn more.
National Academy of Medicine Artificial Intelligence Code of Conduct Principles and Commitments Discussion Draft
The National Academies of Medicine (NAM) released their highly anticipated AI Code of Conduct (AICC) on April 8.
The AICC outlines how AI use in health care is reliable, safe, and optimized to its full potential and the paper’s editors explore strategies to responsibly implement AI advancements to achieve profound benefits in health and health care throughout the United States. In January 2023, the NAM partnered with a group of leading health, bioethics, equity, tech, patient advocacy, and research organizations to develop an Artificial Intelligence Code of Conduct initiative to describe the national architecture required to give rise to and support equitable and responsible use of AI in health, medical care, and health research. Stewarded by the NAM Leadership Consortium, the initiative was launched as a direct response to the growing call for a harmonized set of AI guidelines that can facilitate interoperable governance standards for its development and application.
Around the Web
- Enabling Health Value: Episode #3 – Scaling Innovation in AI, Interoperability, and Health Equity, with Micky Tripathi; enablinghealthvalue.com
- Electronic Access to Immunization Information among Primary Care Physicians; HealthIT.gov
- Health Equity for All; healthit.gov
AMIA’s Washington Download is your source for health informatics policy news and information from around the Beltway, covering action from the Hill, the Administration, and important AMIA collaborators.