A Commonwealth Fund report released today finds fault with congressional proposals to boost health information technology, saying the bills do not go far enough to make much difference in American health care.
Although the report analyzes the health IT bills that died last year when the congressional session ended, its findings are applicable to the Wired for Health Care Quality Act of 2007, Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis said in an interview.
“There’s just not enough funding to get us to a paperless health system in five to 10 years, in my judgment,” Davis said.
The report, which looks at health-related legislation in other areas along with health IT, states that none of the health IT bills “would commit the funds and central leadership required to realize the potential benefits of a health information system. If the U.S. is to close the health information technology gap with other leading countries, it will need a strategy and commitment of requisite funds to achieve its promise.”
Davis said the government should subsidize health IT acquisition for safety-net providers and support the development of regional health information exchanges.
“The basic problem [with the legislation] is that giving small amounts of money — compared to the $3 trillion in U.S. health care spending — and setting standards is not going to be enough to accelerate the adoption of health IT,” she said.
There is as yet no House counterpart for this year's bipartisan Wired for Health Care Quality Act, which won committee approval and is awaiting action by the full Senate. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) is planning to introduce a comprehensive health IT bill after Labor Day, said his health IT policy aide, Michael Zamore.
From the battlefield to the home front: Managing medical data
Government Health IT presents Col. Claude Hines Jr., program manager for the Defense Health Information Management System, in this recent InSight eSeminar. Col. Hines discusses the health information technology and tactical challenges faced by the military medical community in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of conflict. In doing so, he describes the current information technology solutions for transferring clinical data between battlefield care givers to health care personnel at military treatment facilities worldwide.
