This week, an amendment offered by Representative Bill Foster (IL) and Representative Mike Kelly (PA) to HR 7617, legislation to fund the Department of Health & Human Services (among other federal agencies), passed the House by voice vote. 

This amendment strikes Section 510 of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill, which currently prohibits the US Department of Health and Human Services from spending any federal dollars to promulgate or adopt a national patient identifier. In order to become law, the Senate now must take up and pass a similar amendment.

The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need to lift this archaic ban. Providers need to be able to identify patients in order to prevent misidentification – especially the risks of COVID-19 tests to be either returned to the wrong patient or no patient at all.