ACP: Governmental Affairs and Public Policy - ACP Urges Support for a Number of Provisions of the 21st Century Health Information Act of 2005, H.R. 2234; Coalition Letter to Representatives Timothy Murphy and Patrick Kennedy, Sponsors of the Bill

Advocacy

ACP Urges Support for a Number of Provisions of the 21st Century Health Information Act of 2005, H.R. 2234; Coalition Letter to Representatives Timothy Murphy and Patrick Kennedy, Sponsors of the Bill

The Honorable Timothy F. Murphy
U.S. House of Representatives

The Honorable Patrick J. Kennedy
U.S. House of Representatives

May 11, 2005

Dear Mr. Murphy and Mr. Kennedy:

The undersigned organizations would like to congratulate you on the introduction of the "21st Century Health Information Act of 2005" and urge support for a number of important provisions contained in the Act.

First, the Act includes a number of funding incentive approaches intended to stimulate healthcare improvements enabled by information technology.

Most important, the Act would adjust Medicare payments to providers who participate in a health information network that improves the quality and accuracy of clinical decision-making. The importance of reforming Medicare is hard to overstate. With so many of the sickest Americans in this one program, creating a relationship between payment and quality in Medicare will have a lifesaving impact for patients throughout the country.

The Act also authorizes grants, loans, and permits Medicaid funding for the development and implementation of a regional health information networks. If funded through the subsequent appropriations and State processes, these various funding approaches would serve a different need from the Medicare funding. These funds would go directly to the governance, design, implementation, and support of the regional health information systems. These funds would allow for the laying of the "tracks" over which Medicare funded clinical decision-making will run.

The legislation would also reduce the communication barriers that make it difficult for physicians to treat patients. The Act provides that the Secretary shall adopt data standards for interoperability between providers, consumers, and federal agencies and links funding to the adoption of those standards. At the same time, the Act would include privacy and security protections to ensure that patients were protected from inappropriate disclosure of their health information.

Finally, the Act would create a safe harbor for equipment and services provided for the development of a health information network without violating the Medicare self-referral and anti-kickback provisions.

Again, we urge support of these important provisions for funding, standards, and a safe harbor and congratulate you on the introduction of the Act.

Sincerely,

National Association of Manufacturers
American Health Information Management Association
HR Policy Associates
IBM
eHealth Initiative
Kryptiq Corporation
Intel Corporation
American College of Physicians
Dell Corporation
National Alliance for Primary Care Informatics
WebMD Corporation
HIMSS
Siemens Medical Solutions
AllScripts Healthcare Solutions
Greenway Medical Technologies
American College of Emergency Physicians
Cerner Corporation
MediNotes Corporation