The federal role in setting standards for the exchange of health information

The health care industry, having worked for years to create standards for the electronic data interchange (EDI) of health information without significant penetration in the market, asked the US Congress to adopt industry standards as required national standards. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 which requires the US Department of Health and Human Services to adopt industry standards and mandates that those standards be used by all health plans, all health care clearing-houses and all health care providers who elect to conduct EDI within two years of the adoption of the standards. These initial standards, which are administrative and financial in nature, set the ground work for a working relationship between the federal government and the health care industry which can be expanded to support other standards requirements in clinical areas such as telemedicine and electronic patient record exchanges. The status of the standards adoption process and its potential future role in developing a national health information infrastructure is explored.