Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB323 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 323
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY9, 2023
9	9	Ms. H
10	10	IRONO(for herself, Mr. BENNET, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. WARREN, Mr.
11	11	W
12	12	YDEN, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Ms.
13	13	D
14	14	UCKWORTH, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following
15	15	bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
16	16	cation, Labor, and Pensions
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To ensure the privacy of pregnancy termination or loss infor-
19	19	mation under the HIPAA privacy regulations and the
20	20	HITECH Act.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Access for Es-4
25	25	sential Reproductive Health Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘SAFER 5
26	26	Health Act of 2023’’. 6
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29	29	•S 323 IS
30	30	SEC. 2. ENSURING THE PRIVACY OF PREGNANCY TERMI-1
31	31	NATION OR LOSS INFORMATION UNDER THE 2
32	32	HIPAA PRIVACY REGULATIONS AND THE 3
33	33	HITECH ACT. 4
34	34	(a) I
35	35	NGENERAL.— 5
36	36	(1) P
37	37	ROHIBITION ON DISCLOSURE .—Subject to 6
38	38	paragraph (2) and notwithstanding any regulations 7
39	39	promulgated pursuant to section 264(c) of the 8
40	40	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 9
41	41	of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note; Public Law 104– 10
42	42	191), a covered entity or a business associate of a 11
43	43	covered entity may not disclose pregnancy termi-12
44	44	nation or loss information of an individual in Fed-13
45	45	eral, State, local, or Tribal proceedings, including 14
46	46	civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other 15
47	47	proceedings, without the valid authorization of the 16
48	48	individual made in accordance with section 164.508 17
49	49	of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or a suc-18
50	50	cessor regulation). 19
51	51	(2) E
52	52	XCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 20
53	53	apply in the case of a disclosure of pregnancy termi-21
54	54	nation or loss information of an individual by a cov-22
55	55	ered entity or a business associate of a covered enti-23
56	56	ty if— 24
57	57	(A) the pregnancy termination or loss in-25
58	58	formation is necessary for use in defense of a 26
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61	61	•S 323 IS
62	62	professional liability action or proceeding 1
63	63	against the covered entity or business associate 2
64	64	and the pregnancy termination or loss informa-3
65	65	tion is disclosed by— 4
66	66	(i) the covered entity or business asso-5
67	67	ciate to the covered entity’s or business as-6
68	68	sociate’s attorney or professional liability 7
69	69	insurer or insurer’s agent; or 8
70	70	(ii) the authorized attorney of the cov-9
71	71	ered entity or business associate to a court 10
72	72	or body hearing the action or proceeding; 11
73	73	or 12
74	74	(B)(i) the pregnancy termination or loss 13
75	75	information is necessary to investigate physical 14
76	76	harm to the individual by another person di-15
77	77	rectly relating to the loss or termination of the 16
78	78	pregnancy; and 17
79	79	(ii) the individual is unable to provide con-18
80	80	sent due to death or incapacity. 19
81	81	(b) HITECH.— 20
82	82	(1) P
83	83	RIVACY EXCEPTION.—The Secretary shall 21
84	84	revise section 171.202 of title 45, Code of Federal 22
85	85	Regulations, to clarify that an entity’s practice of 23
86	86	not fulfilling a request to access, exchange, or use 24
87	87	electronic health information in order to comply with 25
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90	90	•S 323 IS
91	91	subsection (a) shall not be considered information 1
92	92	blocking (as defined in section 171.103 of title 45, 2
93	93	Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regula-3
94	94	tion)) if the information is pregnancy termination or 4
95	95	loss information. 5
96	96	(2) G
97	97	REATER SECURITY.—The Secretary shall 6
98	98	revise section 170.401 of title 45, Code of Federal 7
99	99	Regulations, to require that as a condition of certifi-8
100	100	cation (as described in that section), a health IT de-9
101	101	veloper (as so described) shall implement practices 10
102	102	that allow for the segregation of data relating to 11
103	103	pregnancy termination or loss information to ensure 12
104	104	compliance with subsection (a). 13
105	105	(c) P
106	106	REEMPTION; MODIFICATION OF STATEPRE-14
107	107	EMPTIONEXCEPTIONS.— 15
108	108	(1) P
109	109	REEMPTION.— 16
110	110	(A) I
111	111	N GENERAL.—This section shall pre-17
112	112	empt any State law to the extent that the State 18
113	113	law conflicts with or prevents application of this 19
114	114	section. 20
115	115	(B) E
116	116	FFECT.—Nothing in subparagraph 21
117	117	(A) shall be construed to preempt a State law 22
118	118	to the extent that the State law provides great-23
119	119	er privacy protections for pregnancy termi-24
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122	122	•S 323 IS
123	123	nation or loss information than provided under 1
124	124	this section. 2
125	125	(2) M
126	126	ODIFICATION.—The Secretary shall revise 3
127	127	section 160.203 of title 45, Code of Federal Regula-4
128	128	tions, to ensure that no exception to the general pre-5
129	129	emption rule stated in that section applies with re-6
130	130	spect to pregnancy termination or loss information 7
131	131	other than the exception described in paragraph 8
132	132	(1)(B). 9
133	133	(d) O
134	134	UTREACH.—The Secretary shall conduct an out-10
135	135	reach campaign to ensure that covered entities, business 11
136	136	associates of covered entities, the public, and affected indi-12
137	137	viduals are aware of the requirements of this section and 13
138	138	any revisions to regulations made pursuant to this section. 14
139	139	(e) P
140	140	ROCEDURE.— 15
141	141	(1) I
142	142	NTERIM FINAL RULE .—Not later than 90 16
143	143	days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 17
144	144	Secretary shall revise each regulation as required by 18
145	145	this section through publication of an interim final 19
146	146	rule in the Federal Register. 20
147	147	(2) F
148	148	INAL RULE.—Not later than 270 days 21
149	149	after the date on which an interim final rule is pub-22
150	150	lished under paragraph (1), the Secretary, after pro-23
151	151	viding opportunity for public comment, shall publish 24
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154	154	•S 323 IS
155	155	in the Federal Register a final rule with such modi-1
156	156	fications as the Secretary determines appropriate. 2
157	157	(f) D
158	158	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
159	159	(1) HIPAA
160	160	TERMS.—The terms ‘‘business asso-4
161	161	ciate’’, ‘‘covered entity’’, and ‘‘protected health infor-5
162	162	mation’’ have the meanings given those terms in sec-6
163	163	tion 160.103 of title 45, Code of Federal Regula-7
164	164	tions (or a successor regulation). 8
165	165	(2) P
166	166	REGNANCY TERMINATION OR LOSS INFOR -9
167	167	MATION.—The term ‘‘pregnancy termination or loss 10
168	168	information’’ means protected health information of 11
169	169	an individual that relates to information that could 12
170	170	reveal having or seeking an abortion or care for 13
171	171	pregnancy loss, including, without limitation, any re-14
172	172	quest for, or receipt of, items, services, education, 15
173	173	counseling, or referrals relating to the termination 16
174	174	or loss of a pregnancy of the individual, including 17
175	175	abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and ectopic preg-18
176	176	nancy. 19
177	177	(3) S
178	178	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20
179	179	the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 21
180	180	Æ
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