View From the Hill – 2005: Another Key Year to Promote Quality Healthcare
March / April 2005
View From the Hill
2005: Another Key Year to Promote Quality Healthcare
As the new calendar year started, the 109th Congress came roaring into town, and President Bush was inaugurated into office for a second term. Then for the second time ever, the president promoted improving healthcare in his 2005 State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress.
As I mentioned in the last issue, industry watchers were disappointed with the lack of action taken by both the Congress and the administration on health technology and patient safety issues. Despite this lack of progress, it appears that both the Congress and the administration plan to put patient safety issues near the top of their agendas for the next two years.
The first key initiative of 2005 occurred on January 18, when the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) within the Department of Health and Human Services received more than 500 responses to its Request for Information (RFI) on the development of a National Health Information Network (NHIN). This information will help the federal government frame how to promote a national concept on how to interconnect health information to improve healthcare.
January 24 saw Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) unveiling the Republicans’ top 10 legislative priorities for the 109th Congress. Priority number four of the Senate Republicans — being introduced as S. 4 — will be known as the Healthy Americans Act of 2005. Title three of S. 4 has four sections of particular interest to our readers:
- Promote the rapid adoption and widespread use of individually owned, privacy-protected electronic health records by fostering development of standards to quickly and safely exchange electronic patient information, encouraging the use of cost-saving technology, and ensuring a coordinated federal effort to promote health information technology;
- Improve patient safety and reduce medical errors by creating a voluntary reporting system for healthcare providers, allowing providers to learn from mistakes and improve patient outcomes without fear of additional litigation;
- Reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in public and private health programs; and
- Establish a number of mechanisms, including a Mandate Review Commission, to cut down on unnecessary and duplicative regulations that inappropriately increase healthcare costs.
Also of note, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) assumed co-chairmanship of the 21st Century Health Care Caucus in the House of Representatives. Murphy has a clinical background in psychology. The Caucus, a bipartisan collaboration of House members, seeks to expand the use of information and information technology to drive measurable improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare.
On January 25, the Senate Finance Committee quickly approved by voice vote the nomination of former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The next week, the full Senate approved Leavitt’s nomination by voice vote. The following day, Secretary Leavitt was traveling with President Bush.
Commitment to Healthcare IT
Then in late January, the president visited the Cleveland Clinic to promote the best use of technology in healthcare in order to improve patient safety. The visit is part of a concerted push by the administration to jumpstart healthcare initiatives. During his visit to Cleveland, the president spoke about the benefits of adapting health information technology: electronic medical records, computerized prescription handling, and other modern measures intended to cut errors, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.
While in Cleveland, the president and Leavitt announced that they were planning to transfer $50 million in FY05 to support ONCHIT’s initiatives that were not funded by the Congress in the FY05 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The chairs and the ranking members of both the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees wrote to the secretary of HHS and director of the Office of Management and Budget asking for program details on how the administration plans to implement an NHIN and what the costs will be for this project. The president announced that he would request $125 million in the FY06 President’s Budget Request for this ongoing effort.
Many in our industry fear that Congress’ failure to fund ONCHIT program initiatives signals that the RFI process was a wasted effort. However, if we agree a national health information exchange is the right step to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of patient care, then we must both individually and collectively express our opinions. We must give members of Congress and the administration clear reasons to fund ONCHIT and support legislation that harnesses the best use of HIT to improve the delivery of care.
We know the potential improvement in healthcare delivery and cost savings that HIT solutions support. If we are serious about achieving full implementation of EHRs and true interoperability to improve patient safety and promote quality healthcare, then we also need to continue the dialogue that was started last year.
There are many ways that we can impact the outcome of several of these recent developments that have already begun. They all start with each of us getting personally involved. Each of us needs to commit to improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of patient care and the many partnerships to accelerate widespread adoption of interoperable HIT solutions into an achievable national health information environment.
Dave Roberts, MPA, FHIMSS, is HIMSS director of public policy. Formerly a professional staff member for both the U.S. House Appropriations Committee and the U.S. Senate Health Subcommittee on the Handicapped, and a civilian financial analyst for the U.S. Air Force, Roberts now resides with his family in Solana Beach, California, where he is an elected member of the City Council, and maintains a HIMSS office in Alexandria, Virginia.