Description:
On May 9 and May 17, 2018, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered 59 bills to be reported related to the nation’s response to the opioid epidemic. Because of the large number of related bills ordered reported by the Committee, CBO is publishing a single comprehensive document that includes estimates for each piece of legislation.
H.R. 5795 would amend the Public Health Service Act so that requirements pertaining to the confidentiality and disclosure of medical records relating to substance use disorders align with the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The bill would require the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue regulations prohibiting discrimination based on data disclosed from such medical records, to issue regulations requiring covered entities to provide written notice of privacy practices, and to develop model training programs and materials for health care providers and patients and their families. Based on spending patterns for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5795 would cost approximately $1 million over the 2019-2023 period.
H.R. 5795 would impose both intergovernmental and private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). CBO estimates that the costs of that bill’s mandates on public and private entities would fall below UMRA’s thresholds ($80 million and $160 million, respectively, for public- and private-sector entities in 2018, adjusted annually for inflation).
H.R. 5795 would impose intergovernmental and private-sector mandates by requiring entities that provide treatment for substance use disorders to notify patients of their privacy rights and also to notify patients in the event that the confidentiality of their records is breached. In certain circumstances, H.R. 5795 also would prohibit public and private entities from denying entry to treatment on the basis of information in patient health records. Those requirements would either supplant or narrowly expand responsibilities under existing law, and compliance with them would not impose significant additional costs. CBO estimates that the costs of the mandates would fall below the annual thresholds established in UMRA.
