Health Information Technology Bills
A dozen bills have been introduced in Congress relating to electronic health information. Most have four objectives: require a study of existing federal and state privacy laws for harmonization, permit hospitals to give health information technology to physician offices without violating antikickback laws, seek to create common standards on medical data, and turn the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, currently an appointed office, into a permanent office established by law.
Here are some of the most prominent bills to watch:
The Healthy American Act of 2005 (S 1503) introduced by Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) (see story on facing page). | |||||
The Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S 1418), introduced by Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) and cosponsored by Frist and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), would authorize competitive grants to hospitals, group practices, and other health care providers to facilitate distribution of health information electronically among health care providers; authorize $125 million in Fiscal 2006 and $155 million in Fiscal 2007 to facilitate the widespread adoption of certain health information technology; and require the establishment of the Health Information Technology Resource Center to provide technical assistance to states and health care providers to implement health data technology. | |||||
The 21st Century Health Information Act of 2005 (HR 2234), introduced by Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), authorizes the secretary of Health and Human Services to make health information technology grants to develop a national health information infrastructure and permits patients to exclude their health information from the health data infrastructure. | |||||
The National Health Information Incentive Act of 2005 (HR 747), introduced by Reps. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas) and John McHugh (R-N.Y.), would establish a refundable credit to offset health care providers' expenditures as they implement health information technology. | |||||
The Health Information Technology Act (S 1227), introduced by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Deborah Stabenow (D-Mich.), proposes to use $4.05 billion from the Medicare Part A budget to reimburse providers who invest in information technology. The bill requires that 20 percent of funds be set aside for rural providers and allows providers to write off their investment.▪ | |||||
