Health Information Technology Promotion Act passed by House of Representatives

[rwingo]

Many sites are reporting on the approval of HR 4157 by the House of Representatives:

Originally Posted by Government Computer News

The Health Information Technology Promotion Act (H.R. 4157) aims to accelerate the use of health IT to improve efficiencies, reduce medical errors, improve quality of care and provide better information for patients and their providers in a seamless and secure manner.

“The administration supports House passage of HR 4157, which will promote a nationwide interoperable health information technology network that will help Americans receive high-quality medical care by giving health care providers and patients secure and privacy-protected access to patients’ medical information and history at the time of care,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a Statement of Administrative Policy on the matter...


During the afternoon, lawmakers in the House approved amendments to the bill to:

• establish a two-year project to demonstrate the impact of health IT on disease management for chronic disease sufferers within the Medicaid population;
• improve coordination of care for the uninsured, underinsured, and medically underserved residing in geographically isolated areas or underserved urban areas;
• create a study that provides benchmarks for best practices and cost-effectiveness for the use of health IT in medically underserved areas.

You can find out more about H.R. 4157 over at GovTrack including the full text of the bill as well as how your representatives voted on the bill.