The Senate has included in its budget resolution a provision that allows for funding of a health information technology bill, should such a bill pass in the coming year.
The provision, offered as an amendment sponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), creates a reserve fund that would allow the chairman of the Budget Committee to adjust the budget resolution to accommodate new revenue and spending levels in future legislation.
The amendment, approved with bipartisan support, specifies that any such changes must not increase the deficit.
The Wired for Health Care Quality Act is the principal health IT legislation pending in the Senate. It cleared the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee quickly last year but has been stalled in the full Senate, reportedly because of concerns about the privacy of health information online.
Having some additional flexibility in the budget might neutralize some objections to a health IT bill. But Whitehouse and Stabenow sponsored a similar amendment in last year’s budget resolution to little apparent effect.
However, the provision could also apply to other bills. It specifically mentions as an example of eligible legislation a bill to promote “activities by the Defense and Veterans Affairs [departments] to integrate their electronic health record data.”
“Health information technology cuts costs and saves lives, but we’re not investing enough to realize those extraordinary benefits,” Whitehouse said in a statement. “I hope making health IT – especially initiatives supporting the young men and women now returning from war – a priority in our budget will help encourage greater investments and speedier reforms.”
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.
