4/27. President Bush gave a speech in Baltimore, Maryland in which he advocated the use of electronic records in the health care industry. He also issued an executive order regarding "the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable health information technology infrastructure".

President Bush continued his now ten day old series of speeches on technology related issues. First, he gave a series of speeches in which he advocated extending the electronic surveillance provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. Then, on Monday, April 26, he gave a speech in which he advocated universal and affordable access to broadband by 2007, a ban on broadband access taxes, a permanent research and development tax credit, federal spending on research and education, easier access to federal land for fiberoptic cables and transmission towers, and conversion to electronic medical records. On Tuesday, he focused on the subject of electronic records in the health care industry.

Bush stated that "the health care industry is missing an opportunity, if patients, in order to make sure they get quality care, have to carry files from one specialist to the next. It's like IT, Information Technology, hasn't shown up in health care yet."

He continued that "We're here to talk about how to make sure the government helps the health care industry become modern in order to enhance the quality of service, in order to reduce the cost of medicine, in order to make sure the patients, the customer is the center of the health care decision-making process."

Bush also issued an executive order regarding "the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable health information technology infrastructure".

This order provides that the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish the position of "National Health Information Technology Coordinator".

It elaborates that "the work of the National Coordinator shall be consistent with a vision of developing a nationwide interoperable health information technology infrastructure that ... Ensures that appropriate information to guide medical decisions is available at the time and place of care; ... Improves health care quality, reduces medical errors, and advances the delivery of appropriate, evidence-based medical care; ... Reduces health care costs resulting from inefficiency, medical errors, inappropriate care, and incomplete information ..."

The order also provides that this new office shall "develop, maintain, and direct the implementation of a strategic plan to guide the nationwide implementation of interoperable health information technology in both the public and private health care sectors ..."

Bush also used this speech in Baltimore to review some of the points he has made in recent speeches regarding making broadband access widely available. He said that "if we want to stay competitive and innovative, that we've got to have broadband in every household in America by the year 2007. And there's way to do that with the government having to provide all the capital. We ought not to tax access to broadband. If you want something to flourish, don't tax it."

He also said that "we've got to make sure that regulatory policy in Washington is conducive for the spread of broadband. For example, one of the things that's probably going to need to be done is they need to build towers on federal lands in order for over-the-air internet services to work out into the remote regions of our country. They don't need a bunch of paperwork and hassle in order to build a tower on federal land."

4/27. President Bush also discussed privacy in the context of electronic medical records in his speech in Baltimore, Maryland. He said that "the federal government has got to make sure the privacy rules are strong. You're going to hear us talk about medical -- electronic medical records. And that's exciting. But it's not so exciting if you're a patient who thinks somebody could snoop on your records, to put it bluntly."

He continued that "there's a lot of people in America who say, good, I want there to be good information technology in the health care field, I just don't want somebody looking at my records unless I give them permission to do so. And I fully understand that. And your records are private, if that's the way you want them to be. But there's a way to address this, the privacy issue."

Bush, however, did not explain his statement that "there's a way to address this".

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has promulgated a rule, pursuant to its authority under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), to protect the privacy of patients. See, the DHHS's web page titled "Office for Civil Rights -- HIPAA".

Tommy Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, accompanied President Bush on the stage at this speech in Baltimore. Bush praised Thompson.

President Bush's executive order of April 27 provides for a new "National Health Information Technology Coordinator" at the DHHS, which will be responsible, among other things, for ensuring "that patients' individually identifiable health information is secure and protected."

This order also provides that that this new office will develop a "strategic plan to guide the nationwide implementation of interoperable health information technology", and that this plan will "Address privacy and security issues related to interoperable health information technology and recommend methods to ensure appropriate authorization, authentication, and encryption of data for transmission over the Internet".

For more information on medical records privacy, see the Center for Democracy and Technology's (CDT) web page titled "Medical Records Privacy", the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) web page titled "Medical Privacy", and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's (PRC) web page titled "Medical Records Privacy".

Also, Privacilla.org released a report earlier this month titled "Health Privacy in the Hands of Government: The HIPAA Privacy Regulation -- Troubled Process, Troubling Results". The report argues that electronic medical records, maintained in interoperable formats, pose a threat to consumer privacy, and that a single federal regulation promulgated by the DHHS is an expensive and ineffective way to attempt to protect consumer privacy.

This report states that "Health information in paper files, or in electronic formats that are not interoperable, is relatively protected because it can not be passed willy-nilly among different users on different computer systems."

It continues that "One of the goals of the broader HIPAA law was to eliminate the inefficiency created by incompatible electronic formats. The ``Electronic Transactions and Code Sets´´ regulation created standards for the content and format of common health care transactions and named standards-maintenance organizations to keep them updated. In seeking to create efficiency, it began the elimination of practical obscurity in health records. This increased the threat to privacy and the specter of combined, poorly secured databases of Americans’ health information."

It states that "The final HIPAA privacy regulation contains a variety of crisscrossing and overlapping policies, some of which even conflict with privacy. Overall, it reduces consumers' power to demand privacy from health care providers on the terms they want, replacing consumer power with a uniform federal regulatory regime."

This report argues that a major source of the medical records privacy problem is "the persistence and continuing growth of third-party payers in the health care market" -- employer provided health insurance and government health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, that stand between patients and doctors.

The Privacilla.org report explains that "the average corporate health plan is relatively generous" and that "many workers are almost fully insulated from the cost of their health care". Similarly, "patients without private health insurance are often covered by government health insurance such as Medicare or Medicaid. These people also pay only a portion of the actual costs of the medical resources they use".

The consequence, the report argues, its that "In both the employer- and government-provided health insurance contexts, the patient is not the customer of the doctor or hospital. Rather, the patient is the beneficiary of an arrangement by the government or between the employer and the insurer." And as a result, "As health care costs have continued to spiral upward, both government and employer-sponsored plans have had to become stingier about what services they cover. Without the discipline that consumers show with their own dollars ... plans must increasingly review whether patients are seeking appropriate care. To do this, they must investigate the medical conditions, treatments, and prognoses of individual patients. They must use patient information to study the cost-efficacy of treatments." And this, Privacilla.org concludes, "opens up reams and reams of otherwise private health information".

4/26. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [43 pages in PDF] regarding unlicensed use of the 3650-3700 MHz band. This spectrum may be used by wireless internet service providers (WISPs).

The FCC announced, but did not release, this NPRM at its April 15, 2004 meeting. See, story titled "FCC Announces NPRM Regarding Unlicensed Use in the 3650-3700 MHz Band" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 878, April 16, 2004.

The NPRM states that "This band appears particularly well suited to respond to the needs expressed by the growing number of entrepreneurial wireless internet service providers (WISPs) who are today bringing broadband services to consumers in rural areas of the United States who have many fewer choices for such services than consumers in more populated areas. WISPs have been asking the Commission for additional spectrum for unlicensed uses to provide both backhaul service and broadband service to their customers."

The NPRM explains that "the central proposal of this Notice would allow unlicensed devices to operate in either all, or portions of, this radiofrequency (RF) band under flexible technical limitations with smart/cognitive features that should prevent interference to licensed satellite services. Specifically, we propose to allow these devices to operate with higher power than currently authorized under Part 15 of the Rules subject to cognitive technology safeguards."

The NPRM adds that "In order to foster the development of the unlicensed use that we propose herein, we also seek comment on whether to restore a uniform primary allocation for all Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) earth stations in the band regardless of the date the earth stations were authorized, and whether to delete the existing co-primary allocations for the Fixed Service (FS) and Mobile Service (MS) in this band. We also seek comment on other options that could also allow for the provision of licensed terrestrial service in this band."

This NPRM is FCC 04-100 in ET Docket Nos. 04-151, 02-380, and 98-237. Comments will be due 75 days from date of publication of a notice in the Federal Register. Reply comments will be due 105 days from date publication in the Federal Register. This publication has not yet occurred.

4/26. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) released its Third Report and Order [21 pages in PDF] adopting regulations allowing the operation of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems in the 433.5-434.5 MHz band.

The FCC announced, but did not release, this Third Report and Order at its April 15, 2004 meeting. This item is FCC 04-98 in ET Docket No. 01-278. See also, story titled "FCC Announces Report and Order Regarding Use of RFID with Shipping Containers" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 878, April 16, 2004.

4/27. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) hosted the first day of a two day conference titled "Enhanced 911 Coordination Initiative". FCC Chairman Michael Powell spoke. He briefly referenced voice over internet protocol (VOIP). He said that "As was discussed at the Commission’s IP Solutions Summit last month, the agreement between NENA and the Voice On the Net (VON) Coalition on how voice over IP providers will deliver location information to PSAPs exemplifies what can be achieved from public/private partnerships. While the Commission grapples with this issue, it is encouraging to know that consumers are being provided some basic level of E911 capability for VoIP services." See, text of speech.

4/26. The European Union published in its website a document [4 pages in PDF] titled "Interview with Mario Monti, Commissioner responsible for competition: The EU gets new competition powers for the 21st Century". It includes statements by Mario Monti (Commissioner), and statements by Philip Lowe (Director-General for Competition).

4/26. Kamil Idris, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), issued a statement on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM. The House will consider several non technology related items under suspension of the rules. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will continue its consideration of S 150, the "Internet Tax Non-discrimination Act of 2003".

9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Enhanced 911 Coordination Initiative. See, agenda [PDF]. Location: FCC, 445 12th Street, SW.

9:30 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled "Telecommunications Policy Review". The speakers will be Adam Thierer (Cato Institute), Charles Ferguson (Brookings Institution), George Gilder (Discovery Institute), Reed Hundt (McKinsey & Company), and Raymond Gifford (Progress & Freedom Foundation). The hearing will be webcast. See, notice. Press contact: Rebecca Fisher at 202 224-2670. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will meet to mark up a bill to reauthorize the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act. The hearing will be webcast. Press contact: Larry Neal or Jon Tripp at 202 225-5735. See, notice. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards will hold a hearing titled "Fiscal Year 2005 National Institute of Standards and Technology Budget: Views from Industry". The hearing will be webcast. Press contact: Joe Pouliot at Joe.Pouliot@mail.house.gov or 202 225-6371. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will hold a hearing titled "The Impact of Stock Option Expensing on Small Businesses". See, notice. Location: Room 428 A, Russell Building.

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM. Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Jon Dudas, and the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), will host a lunch to celebrate the 3rd Annual World Intellectual Property Day. The speakers will be Peter Schultz (pioneer fiber optic inventor) and Nick Taylor (President of the Authors Guild). See, USPTO notice and IIPI notice. Location: Room 902, Hart Building, Capitol Hill.

12:00 NOON. The Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host a luncheon. The speakers will be Richard Notebaert (Ch/CEO of Qwest Communications), Anna-Marie Kovacs (Janney Montgomery Scott), Frank Governali (Goldman Sachs), and Blake Bath (Lehman Brothers). See, notice and online registration page. Press contact: David Fish at 202 289-8928 or dfish@pff.org. Location: Rotunda Room, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Online Communications Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The speaker will be Hillary Brill, Legislative Director for Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA). RSVP to Evelyn Opany at 202 689-7163. Location: Piper Rudnick, 1200 19th Street, NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM. The House will consider several non technology related items under suspension of the rules. See, Republican Whip Notice.

9:30 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an executive business meeting. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled "Spyware: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You". The hearing will be webcast by the Committee. See, notice. Press contact: Larry Neal or Jon Tripp at 202 225-5735. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The House Science Committee will hold a hearing titled "H.R. __, High Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2004". The hearing will be webcast. Press contact: Joe Pouliot at Joe.Pouliot@mail.house.gov or 202 225-6371. Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary will hold a hearing on intellectual property issues. Location: Room 192, Dirksen Building.

12:00 NOON. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Reference Information Center (RIC) will close at 12:00 NOON, and remain closed for the remainder of the day. See, FCC notice [PDF].

12:15 - 2:00 PM. The Forum on Technology and Innovation will host a luncheon titled "The Impact of Expensing Stock Options on the Tech Industry". The speakers will be Dick Grannis (VP and Treasurer of Qualcomm), Karen Kerrigan (Chairman of the Small Business Survival Committee), and Roberto Mendoza (Chairman of IFL). See, registration page. Location: Room 902, Hart Building, Capitol Hill.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Media Practice Committee will host a brown bag lunch. The topic will be the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) television license renewal process. The speakers will be Barbara Kreisman and staff of the FCC's Video Division. RSVP to John Logan at jlogan@dlalaw.com. Location: Dow Lohnes & Albertson, 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW.

2:30 PM. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism will hold a hearing to examine Middle East broadcasting. Location: Room 419, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies will host a pair of panel discussions titled "Intellectual Property Rights in Frontier Industries: Software and Biotech". At 10:15 AM there will be a panel titled "Biotechnology and IPR". At 12:00 NOON there will be a luncheon panel discussion titled "Software and IPR". The speakers will be Scott Wallsten (AEI-Brookings), David Mowery (UC Berkeley), Dan Burk (University of Minnesota), and Starling Hunter (MIT). Location: AEI, 1150 17th St., NW, 12th Floor.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) will host a panel discussion titled "Accelerating the Transition to Digital TV: Developments at the FCC and in Congress". The speakers will be Ken Ferree (Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau), John Kneuer (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), Thomas Lenard (PFF), and Steve Sharkey (Motorola). Lunch will be served. See, notice and registration page. Press contact: David Fish at 202-289-8928 or dfish@pff.org. Location: Room 253, Russell Building, Capitol Hill.

Deadline to submit applications to the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Program grants. Paper copies must be postmarked and mailed, shipped, or sent overnight no later than April 30, 2004, to be eligible for FY 2004 grant funding. Electronic copies must be received by April 30, 2004, to be eligible for FY 2004 grant funding. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 1, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 40, at Pages 9576-9582.

Deadline to submit applications to the Privacy Office of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for membership on its new Data Integrity, Privacy, and Interoperability Advisory Committee. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 9, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 69, at Page 18923.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding unwanted mobile service commercial messages and the CAN-SPAM Act. This is CG Docket No. 04-53. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 31, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 62, at Pages 16873 - 16886.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding auction procedures for the September 15, 2004 Automated Maritime Telecommunications System Spectrum Auction. See, notice in the Federal Register, April 20, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 76, at Pages 21110 - 21114.

Deadline for the President to submit a report to the Congress on the operations of the Directorate of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection of the Department of Homeland Security and the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. This report is required by Section 359 of HR 2417, the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004". See, story titled "Bush Signs Intelligence Authorization Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 799, December 15, 2003.

The Supreme Court will begin a recess. (It will return on May 17, 2004.)

9:00 - 10:30 AM. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will host a panel discussion titled "The Audiovisual Services Sector in the GATS Negotiations". The audiovisual services sector includes movies, television, radio. See, notice. Location: AEI, 12th floor, 1150 17th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Typeright v. Microsoft, No. O3-1197. Location: Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding whether certain rules should be repealed or modified because they are no longer necessary in the public interest. The FCC released this NPRM on January 12, 2004. This item is FCC 03-337 in WC Docket No. 02-313. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 18, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 53, at Pages 12814-12826.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding broadband over powerline systems. The FCC adopted this NPRM on February 12, 2004. See, story titled "FCC Adopts Broadband Over Powerline NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 836, February 13, 2004. The FCC released the text of this NPRM on February 23, 2004. This NPRM is FCC 04-29 in ET Docket Nos. 03-104 and 04-37. See, notice in the Federal Register, March 17, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 52, at Pages 12612-12618.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order [53 pages in PDF] regarding cognitive radio technologies and software defined radios. This item is FCC 03-322 in ET Docket No. 03-108 and ET Docket No. 00-47. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 17, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 31, at Pages 7397 - 7411, and story titled "FCC Releases Cognitive Radio Technology NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 808, December 31, 2003.

9:30 AM. The Heritage Foundation will host an event titled "Protecting Civil Liberties and Fighting Terrorism: The USA Patriot Act". The speakers will be James Comey (Deputy Attorney General), Asa Hutchinson (Undersecretary for Border Security and Transportation, Department of Homeland Security), William Fox (Department of the Treasury), William Bennett (Empower America), and Edwin Meese (Heritage). See, notice. Location: Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.