A bipartisan coalition of organizations is once again urging Congress to act promptly on health information technology legislation.
“It is urgent that Congress do something this year,” former Rep. Nancy Johnson, co-chair of the Health IT Now! Coalition, said at a press conference on Capitol Hill today.
The coalition, formed last year, consists of about three dozen organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the National Association of Manufacturers, Boeing, the National Retail Federation and the Bronx Regional Health Information Organization.
Sponsors of pending health IT legislation in the House and Senate also weighed in, urging their colleagues to pass bills introduced last year. Those are the Wired for Health Care Quality Act in the Senate and a similar House bill, the Promoting Health Information Technology Act.
Asked why Congress might be able to enact health IT legislation this year when it has not done so for the last three years, Johnson said members of Congress have come to accept the importance of health IT in controlling health care costs and improving the quality of care.
Many of the nation's leaders are now advocating universal health care coverage, she said, but the price tag for it could be staggering unless health IT is in place to increase the efficiency of health care, reduce expensive errors, and limit redundant tests and treatments.
Giving grants or other incentives to some doctors and clinics to get them to use the technology was controversial in the past, Johnson said, but now senators and representatives are recognizing the need for subsidies as provided in the bills.
“Every month that goes by, I think it becomes more imperative” for Congress to act, said Rhett Dawson, president and chief executive officer at the IT Industry Council, who took part in the press conference.
The IT industry group and other members of the coalition say that without federal legislation, the goal of interoperability among health IT systems may never be realized. The technology is developing rapidly, Dawson said, while Congress fails to act.
If Congress does not act soon, Johnson said, months may be lost during the hiatus that always occurs during a change in administrations and in the makeup of Congress after a major election.
Government Health IT presents Rick Friedman, director of the division of state systems for the Center for Medicaid and State Operations with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in this recent eSeminar regarding how the federal Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services is partnering with state Medicaid and health and human services officials to bring Medicaid into the digital age. Paul McCloskey, Government Health IT editor, moderates.
