House advances plan for statewide patient identity validation amid debate over immunity

The Utah House passed a bill on Jan. 24 directing the Department of Health to develop standards for a statewide patient identity validation system intended to reduce duplicate medical records, improve real-time death-record validation and curb fraud.

Representative Barlow, sponsor of House Bill 25, described the measure as the product of 18 months of stakeholder work through the Utah Digital Health Service Commission. The legislation would authorize the Department of Health to convene stakeholders, develop standards for a patient identity validation system and provide limited governmental immunity for entities participating in implementing the plan. Barlow said the initial infrastructure and startup costs would be covered by an NIH grant obtained by the University of Utah and that Intermountain Healthcare and the University of Utah had committed to help cover ongoing costs.

The bill’s supporters argued that government coordination is needed to integrate Medicaid and public health systems with existing exchanges such as the Clinical Health Information Exchange (CHI). Representative Powell said governmental immunity is a common safeguard to allow public entities to implement new programs without exposing taxpayers to unlimited liability.

Opponents raised concerns about the scope of immunity. Representative King said the bill ‘‘establishes... some very, from my perspective, may be some very good things... but I don't like the idea of saying we're gonna pass this bill that has some good ideas... but we're going to immunize you from suit if they fail to do it.’’ The sponsor and others clarified that HIPAA violations would still be actionable and that immunity was designed to protect public entities acting in good faith while they implement new systems.

Members also pressed on privacy, what data would be shared, CHI’s role and whether private-sector funding created conflicts; the sponsor repeatedly said the system would not share clinical information and that validation would focus on identity matching, not clinical data exchange. Representative Sanpei acknowledged a potential conflict of interest and disclosed work with Intermountain Healthcare, which is participating financially.

The House approved HB 25 51–17. The bill will be transmitted to the Senate for consideration.

What to watch: How the Department of Health defines technical standards, how the CHI and private partners participate, and whether the Senate amends the immunity language or funding structure.