Senators Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.) hope to help heal
the nation’s health care system with legislation to create an interoperable
health IT network.
The lawmakers said Thursday the Health Technology to Enhance Quality Act of
2005 (Health TEQ) implements IT standards to guide the design and
operation of health information systems.
“[This legislation] will help launch America’s transition away from outmoded
pen-and-pad medicine by encouraging the creation of an interoperable, secure
and technology-based system of medical care,” Frist said at press
conference.
The bill establishes an Office of National Coordinator for Information
Technology and establishes standards for the electronic exchange of health
information. In addition, it authorizes grants to local and regional
consortiums to implement a health information technology infrastructure that
is compliant with national standards.
“This legislation marries technology and quality to create a seamless,
efficient health care system for the 21st Century,” said Clinton. “By
creating national interoperability standards, we will give health care
providers the confidence that an investment in health IT is an investment in
the future.”
According to Frist and Clinton, the bill establishes a “collaborative
public-private process” for the recommendation and adoption of standards for
the electronic exchange of health information in conjunction with the
National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).
Part of the collaboration involves directing the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to conduct a study of privacy laws and practices to determine
how the variation among such state laws and practices may impact the
electronic exchange of health information.
The bill also clarifies that the privacy, confidentiality and security
protections included in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 extend to health information exchanged electronically under the
Frist-Clinton legislation.
The legislation closely follows a plan introduced last week by HHS Secretary
Michael Leavitt calling for a government advisory group to help coordinate
healthcare IT standards. Leavitt is also seeking proposals for the
development of a prototype national healthcare information network.
The bill also drew the immediate praise from the Computer Systems Policy
Project (CSPP), a CEO policy advocacy group focused on U.S. competitiveness.
“The U.S. health care system today includes the world’s greatest doctors and
most powerful medical tools, but they lack the basic information
infrastructure to maximize their talents and effectiveness,” CSPP Executive
Director Bruce Mehlman said in a statement.
Mehlman added, “Our paper-driven health care system each year contributes to
thousands of unnecessary medical errors, $150 billion in administrative
waste and another $300 billion on unneeded and redundant medical tests. The
Frist-Clinton legislation represents a significant step forward to alleviate
these problems.”
A CSPP nationwide poll conducted earlier this year found nearly 70 percent
of Americans favor integrating IT into the nations health-care system.
In the House, Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Penn.) and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) have
introduced similar legislation.