Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB459 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 459
5	5	To ensure the privacy of pregnancy termination or loss information under
6	6	the HIPAA privacy regulations and the HITECH Act.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY24, 2023
9	9	Ms. E
10	10	SHOO(for herself and Ms. JACOBS) introduced the following bill; which
11	11	was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To ensure the privacy of pregnancy termination or loss infor-
14	14	mation under the HIPAA privacy regulations and the
15	15	HITECH Act.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Access For Es-4
20	20	sential Reproductive Health Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘SAFER 5
21	21	Health Act of 2023’’. 6
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24	24	•HR 459 IH
25	25	SEC. 2. ENSURING THE PRIVACY OF PREGNANCY TERMI-1
26	26	NATION OR LOSS INFORMATION UNDER THE 2
27	27	HIPAA PRIVACY REGULATIONS AND THE 3
28	28	HITECH ACT. 4
29	29	(a) I
30	30	NGENERAL.— 5
31	31	(1) P
32	32	ROHIBITION ON DISCLOSURE .—Subject to 6
33	33	paragraph (2) and nothwithstanding any provision 7
34	34	in regulations promulgated pursuant to section 8
35	35	264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Ac-9
36	36	countability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–191), a 10
37	37	covered entity or business associate of such entity 11
38	38	may not disclose pregnancy termination or loss in-12
39	39	formation of an individual in Federal, State, local, 13
40	40	or tribal proceedings, including civil, criminal, ad-14
41	41	ministrative, legislative, or other proceedings, with-15
42	42	out the valid authorization of the individual made in 16
43	43	accordance with section 164.508 of title 45, Code of 17
44	44	Federal Regulations. 18
45	45	(2) E
46	46	XCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 19
47	47	apply in the case of a disclosure of pregnancy termi-20
48	48	nation or loss information of an individual by a cov-21
49	49	ered entity or business associate of a covered entity 22
50	50	if— 23
51	51	(A) such information is necessary for use 24
52	52	in defense of a professional liability action or 25
53	53	proceeding against the covered entity or busi-26
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56	56	•HR 459 IH
57	57	ness associate and such information is disclosed 1
58	58	by— 2
59	59	(i) the covered entity or business asso-3
60	60	ciate to such covered entity’s or business 4
61	61	associate’s attorney or professional liability 5
62	62	insurer or insurer’s agent; or 6
63	63	(ii) the authorized attorney of such 7
64	64	covered entity or business associate to a 8
65	65	court or body hearing such action or pro-9
66	66	ceeding; or 10
67	67	(B) such information is necessary to— 11
68	68	(i) investigate physical harm to such 12
69	69	individual by another person directly relat-13
70	70	ing to the loss or termination of the preg-14
71	71	nancy; and 15
72	72	(ii) such individual is unable to pro-16
73	73	vide consent due to death or incapacity. 17
74	74	(b) HITECH.— 18
75	75	(1) P
76	76	RIVACY EXCEPTION.—The Secretary of 19
77	77	Health and Human Services shall revise section 20
78	78	171.202 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, to 21
79	79	clarify that an entity’s practice of not fulfilling a re-22
80	80	quest to access, exchange, or use electronic health 23
81	81	information in order to comply with subsection (a) 24
82	82	will not be considered information blocking (as de-25
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85	85	•HR 459 IH
86	86	fined for purposes of such section) if such informa-1
87	87	tion is pregnancy termination or loss information. 2
88	88	(2) G
89	89	REATER SECURITY .—The Secretary of 3
90	90	Health and Human Services shall revise section 4
91	91	170.401 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, to 5
92	92	require that as a condition of certification (as de-6
93	93	scribed in such section), a health IT developer (as so 7
94	94	described) shall implement practices that allow for 8
95	95	the segregation of data related to pregnancy termi-9
96	96	nation or loss information to ensure compliance with 10
97	97	subsection (a). 11
98	98	(c) M
99	99	ODIFICATION OFSTATEPREEMPTIONEXCEP-12
100	100	TIONS.— 13
101	101	(1) I
102	102	N GENERAL.—The provisions of this sec-14
103	103	tion shall preempt any State law to the extent such 15
104	104	law conflicts with or prevents application of this sec-16
105	105	tion. Nothing in the preceding sentence shall be con-17
106	106	strued to preempt a State law to the extent that 18
107	107	such law provides greater privacy protections for 19
108	108	pregnancy termination or loss information than pro-20
109	109	vided under this section. 21
110	110	(2) M
111	111	ODIFICATION.—The Secretary of Health 22
112	112	and Human Services shall revise section 160.203 of 23
113	113	title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor 24
114	114	regulation), to ensure that no exception to the gen-25
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117	117	•HR 459 IH
118	118	eral preemption rule stated in such section applies 1
119	119	with respect to pregnancy termination or loss infor-2
120	120	mation other than the exception under the second 3
121	121	sentence of paragraph (1). 4
122	122	(d) O
123	123	UTREACH.—The Secretary of Health and 5
124	124	Human Services shall conduct an outreach campaign to 6
125	125	covered entities and business associates of such entities 7
126	126	to ensure that such entities and associates are aware of 8
127	127	the requirements of this section and any changes to regu-9
128	128	lations made pursuant to this section. 10
129	129	(e) P
130	130	ROCEDURE.—Any revisions to regulations re-11
131	131	quired by application of this section shall be made by no-12
132	132	tice in the Federal Register published not later than 3 13
133	133	months after the date of the enactment of this section as 14
134	134	an interim final rule. The Secretary of Health and Human 15
135	135	Services shall, after providing opportunity for public com-16
136	136	ment, finalize any such interim final rule not later than 17
137	137	9 months after such interim final rule is published with 18
138	138	such modifications as the Secretary determines appro-19
139	139	priate. 20
140	140	(f) D
141	141	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
142	142	(1) HIPAA
143	143	TERMS.—The terms ‘‘business asso-22
144	144	ciate’’, ‘‘covered entity’’, and ‘‘protected health infor-23
145	145	mation’’ have the meaning given such terms for pur-24
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148	148	•HR 459 IH
149	149	poses of the regulations described in subsection 1
150	150	(a)(1). 2
151	151	(2) P
152	152	REGNANCY TERMINATION OR LOSS INFOR -3
153	153	MATION.—The term ‘‘pregnancy termination or loss 4
154	154	information’’ means protected health information of 5
155	155	an individual that relates to information that could 6
156	156	reveal having or seeking an abortion or care for 7
157	157	pregnancy loss, including without limitation, any re-8
158	158	quest for or receipt of items, services, education, 9
159	159	counseling, or referrals relating to the termination 10
160	160	or loss of a pregnancy of such individual, including 11
161	161	abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and ectopic preg-12
162	162	nancy. 13
163	163	Æ
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