House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas) on Thursday said that committee leaders hope to vote on a bill (HR 6357) that would create a national electronic health record system and that the committee is committed to "making privacy a priority" within the legislation, CongressDaily reports. Speaking at a conference on privacy, Barton -- who introduced the bill with committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) -- said the bill likely would have "the strongest privacy protection of any bill that's gone through the House or Senate in the last five or 10 years." Barton said that while discussions in the committee are focused on privacy protections, "the problem is determining what privacy is" in the legislative sense.

Privacy experts have requested specific language be included in the bill, according to CongressDaily. However, the language "is technically correct but not legislatively appropriate," Barton said. Barton added that he and Dingell have been "going round and round" with Health Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and ranking member Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) to what language to include.

Senate Bill
A similar bill (S 1693), introduced in 2007 by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), also could progress soon, according to Democratic and Republican aides, CongressDaily reports.

However, a Kennedy spokesperson said a few outstanding concerns with the bill need to be addressed. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and other GOP lawmakers object to the $137 million authorization level.

In addition, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has said the bill should include provisions that require individuals who use or maintain the EHR system to alert authorities about patient data leaks and fine those who mishandle the data. The 18-member American Health Information Community advisory board -- led by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt -- should have three consumer representatives instead of just one, Snowe said.

The Bush administration has voiced opposition to changing the board (Noyes, CongressDaily, 7/10).