text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Healthcare Information Technology 
  Enterprise Integration Act''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds the following:
              (1) The National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
          because of the electronic commerce, information technology and 
          security expertise in its laboratories and the healthcare 
          component of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and 
          its long history of working with the information technology and 
          healthcare industries, is well equipped to complement the 
          healthcare information technology implementation efforts as 
          established by Executive Order 13335 of April 27, 2004, by 
          addressing the technical challenges posed by healthcare 
          information enterprise integration.
              (2) Therefore, it is in the national interest for the 
          National Institute of Standards and Technology to accelerate 
          its efforts--
                      (A) to participate in the development of technical 
                  standards, standards conformance tests, and enterprise 
                  integration processes that are necessary to increase 
                  efficiency and quality of care, and lower costs in the 
                  healthcare industry; and
                      (B) ensuring that all components of the United 
                  States healthcare infrastructure can be a part of an 
                  electronic information network that is reliable, 
                  interoperable, and secure.
  
  SEC. 3. HEALTHCARE INFORMATION ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION INITIATIVE.
  
      (a) Establishment.--The Director of the National Institute of 
  Standards and Technology shall establish an initiative for advancing 
  healthcare information enterprise integration within the United States. 
  In carrying out this section, the Director shall involve various units 
  of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, including its 
  laboratories and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program. This 
  initiative shall build upon ongoing efforts of the National Institute 
  of Standards and Technology, the private sector, and other Federal 
  agencies, shall involve consortia that include government and industry, 
  and shall be designed to permit healthcare information enterprise 
  integration. These efforts shall complement ongoing activities 
  occurring under Executive Order 13335 of April 27, 2004.
      (b) Technical Activities.--In order to carry out this section, the 
  Director may focus on--
              (1) information technology standards and interoperability 
          analysis, which may include the development of technical 
          testbeds;
              (2) supporting the establishment of conformance testing 
          infrastructure, including software conformance and 
          certification;
              (3) security;
              (4) medical device communication;
              (5) supporting the provisioning of technical architecture 
          products for management and retrieval; and
              (6) information management including electronic health 
          records management, health information usability, and access 
          and decision support.
      (c) Other Activities.--The Director may assist healthcare 
  representatives and organizations and Federal agencies in the 
  development of technical roadmaps that identify the remaining steps 
  needed to ensure that technical standards for application protocols, 
  interoperability, data integrity, and security, as well as the 
  corollary conformance test protocols, will be in place. These roadmaps 
  shall rely upon voluntary consensus standards where possible consistent 
  with Federal technology transfer laws.
      (d) Plans and Reports.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
  enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall 
  transmit a report to the Committee on Science and Technology of the 
  House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
  Transportation of the Senate on the activities of the National 
  Institute of Standards and Technology under this section.
  
  SEC. 4. FEDERAL HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS AND 
                INFRASTRUCTURE.
  
      (a) Guidelines and Standards.--Not later than 12 months after the 
  date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Institute 
  of Standards and Technology, in consultation with industry and 
  appropriate Federal agencies, shall report on development of 
  technology-neutral information technology infrastructure guidelines and 
  standards, or the adoption of existing technology-neutral industry 
  guidelines and private sector standards, for use by Federal agencies to 
  enable those agencies to effectively select and utilize healthcare 
  information technologies in a manner that is--
              (1) sufficiently secure to meet the needs of those agencies 
          (as is consistent with the Computer Security Act of 1987, as 
          amended, section 225 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and 
          title III of the E-Government Act of 2002), their transaction 
          partners, and the general public;
              (2) interoperable, to the maximum extent possible; and
              (3) inclusive of ongoing Federal efforts that provide 
          technical expertise to harmonize existing standards and assist 
          in the development of interoperability specifications.
      (b) Elements.--The guidelines and standards developed under 
  subsection (a) shall--
              (1) promote the use by Federal agencies of commercially 
          available products that incorporate the guidelines and 
          standards developed under subsection (a);
              (2) develop uniform testing procedures suitable for 
          determining the conformance of commercially available and 
          Federal healthcare information technology products with the 
          guidelines and standards;
              (3) support and promote the testing of electronic 
          healthcare information technologies utilized by Federal 
          agencies;
              (4) provide protection and security profiles;
              (5) establish a core set of interoperability specifications 
          in transactions between Federal agencies and their transaction 
          partners; and
              (6) include validation criteria to enable Federal agencies 
          to select healthcare information technologies appropriate to 
          their needs.
      (c) Reports.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
  of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall transmit to 
  the Congress a report that includes a description and analysis of--
              (1) the level of interoperability and security of 
          technologies for sharing healthcare information among Federal 
          agencies; and
              (2) the problems Federal agencies are having with, and the 
          progress such agencies are making toward, ensuring 
          interoperable and secure healthcare information systems and 
          electronic healthcare records.
  
  SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.
  
      (a) Healthcare Information Enterprise Integration Research 
  Centers.--
              (1) In general.--The Director of the National Institute of 
          Standards and Technology, in consultation the Director of the 
          National Science Foundation and other appropriate Federal 
          agencies, shall establish a program of assistance to 
          institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof which 
          may include nonprofit entities and Federal Government 
          laboratories) to establish multidisciplinary Centers for 
          Healthcare Information Enterprise Integration.
              (2) Review; competition.--Grants shall be awarded under 
          this subsection on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis.
              (3) Purpose.--The purposes of the Centers shall be--
                      (A) to generate innovative approaches to healthcare 
                  information enterprise integration by conducting 
                  cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research on the systems 
                  challenges to healthcare delivery; and
                      (B) the development and use of information 
                  technologies and other complementary fields.
              (4) Research areas.--Research areas may include--
                      (A) the interfaces between human information and 
                  communications technology systems;
                      (B) voice-recognition systems;
                      (C) software that improves interoperability and 
                  connectivity among systems;
                      (D) software dependability in systems critical to 
                  healthcare delivery;
                      (E) measurement of the impact of information 
                  technologies on the quality and productivity of 
                  healthcare;
                      (F) healthcare information enterprise management; 
                  and
                      (G) information technology security and integrity.
              (5) Applications.--An institution of higher education (or a 
          consortium thereof) seeking funding under this subsection shall 
          submit an application to the Director at such time, in such 
          manner, and containing such information as the Director may 
          require. The application shall include, at a minimum, a 
          description of--
                      (A) the research projects that will be undertaken 
                  by the Center and the respective contributions of the 
                  participating entities;
                      (B) how the Center will promote active 
                  collaboration among scientists and engineers from 
                  different disciplines, such as information technology, 
                  biologic sciences, management, social sciences, and 
                  other appropriate disciplines;
                      (C) technology transfer activities to demonstrate 
                  and diffuse the research results, technologies, and 
                  knowledge; and
                      (D) how the Center will contribute to the education 
                  and training of researchers and other professionals in 
                  fields relevant to healthcare information enterprise 
                  integration.
      (b) National Information Technology Research and Development 
  Program.--The National High-Performance Computing Program established 
  by section 101 of the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (15 U.S.C. 
  5511) shall coordinate Federal research and development programs 
  related to the development and deployment of health information 
  technology, including activities related to--
              (1) computer infrastructure;
              (2) data security;
              (3) development of large-scale, distributed, reliable 
          computing systems;
              (4) wired, wireless, and hybrid high-speed networking;
              (5) development of software and software-intensive systems;
              (6) human-computer interaction and information management 
          technologies; and
              (7) the social and economic implications of information 
          technology.
      (c) Strategic Plan for Healthcare Technologies and 
  Classification.--
              (1) In general.--The Director of the National Institute of 
          Standards and Technology, in consultation with the Director of 
          the National Science Foundation, not later than 90 days after 
          the date of enactment of this Act, shall establish a task force 
          whose membership includes representatives of other Federal 
          agencies and industry groups (such as the American Health 
          Information Management Association and the American Medical 
          Informatics Association) to develop a strategic plan including 
          recommendations for--
                      (A) the development, adoption, and maintenance of 
                  terminologies and classifications;
                      (B) gaining commitment of terminology and 
                  classification stakeholders (such as developers, end 
                  users, and other service and technology suppliers) to 
                  principles and guidelines for open and transparent 
                  processes to enable cost-effective interoperability and 
                  complete and accurate information;
                      (C) the design of a centralized authority or 
                  governance model, including principles for its 
                  operation and funding scenarios;
                      (D) United States participation in the 
                  International Health Terminology Standards Development 
                  Organization; and
                      (E) any other issues identified by the task force.
              (2) Task force report.--The task force shall report its 
          findings and recommendations to the Committee on Science and 
          Technology of the House of Representatives not later than 18 
          months after the date of enactment of this Act. The task force 
          shall terminate after transmitting such report.
              (3) Federal advisory committee act.--The task force 
          established under this subsection shall not be subject to the 
          Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
  
  SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
  
      There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director of the 
  National Institute of Standards and Technology for carrying out this 
  Act $8,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2010, to be 
  derived from amounts authorized under section 3001 of Public Law 110-
  69.
target: Healthcare Information Technology Enterprise Integration Act - (Sec. 3) Requires the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to establish an initiative for advancing health care information enterprise integration within the United States. Authorizes the Director to focus on: (1) information technology standards and interoperability analysis; (2) supporting the establishment of conformance testing infrastructure; (3) security; (4) medical device communication; (5) supporting the provisioning of technical architecture products for management and retrieval; and (6) information management.
  
  Allows the Director to assist health care representatives and organizations and federal agencies in the development of technical roadmaps that identify the remaining steps needed to ensure that standards will be in place. Requires such roadmaps to rely upon voluntary consensus standards, where possible, consistent with federal technology transfer laws.
  
  (Sec. 4) Requires the Director to report on the development or adoption of technology-neutral information technology infrastructure guidelines and standards to enable federal agencies to effectively select and utilize health care information technologies in a manner that is: (1) sufficiently secure; (2) interoperable; and (3) inclusive of ongoing federal efforts that provide technical expertise to harmonize existing standards and assist in the development of interoperability specifications. Requires such guidelines and standards to: (1) promote the use by federal agencies of commercially available products; (2) develop uniform testing procedures suitable for determining product conformance; (3) support and promote the testing of electronic health care information technologies utilized by federal agencies; (4) provide protection and security profiles; (5) establish a core set of interoperability specifications in federal agency transactions; and (6) include validation criteria to enable federal agencies to select appropriate health care information technologies. Requires the Director to report on: (1) the level of interoperability and security of technologies for sharing health care information among federal agencies; and (2) federal agency problems and progress in ensuring interoperable and secure health care information systems and electronic health care records.
  
  (Sec. 5) Requires the Director to establish a program of assistance to institutions of higher education to establish multidisciplinary Centers for Healthcare Information Enterprise Integration in order to: (1) generate innovative approaches to health care information enterprise integration; and (2) develop and use information technologies and other complementary fields.
  
  Directs the National High-Performance Computing Program to coordinate federal research and development programs related to the development and deployment of health information technology.
  
  Requires the Director to establish a task force to develop a strategic plan, including recommendations for: (1) the development, adoption, and maintenance of terminologies and classifications; (2) gaining commitment of terminology and classification stakeholders to principles and guidelines for an open and transparent process to enable cost-effective interoperability and complete and accurate information; (3) the design of a centralized authority or governance model; and (4) U.S. participation in the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization.
  
  (Sec. 6) Authorizes Appropriations for FY2009-FY2010.
feat_title: To authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to increase its efforts in support of the integration of the healthcare information enterprise in the United States.