ACP: Governmental Affairs and Public Policy - ACP Supports the "Health Information Technology Act of 2005"

Advocacy

ACP Supports the "Health Information Technology Act of 2005"

June 6, 2005

The Honorable Debbie A. Stabenow
U.S. Senate
133 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Olympia J. Snowe
U.S. Senate
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Stabenow and Snowe:

The American College of Physicians (ACP), representing 118,000 doctors of internal medicine and medical students, is pleased to support the "Health Information Technology Act of 2005." This legislation takes a significant step toward the future expansion of universally accepted health information technology (HIT) standards, and provides the necessary financial incentives for health care providers to acquire electronic health records and other technologies.

Experts agree that the use of HIT can revolutionize health care by putting real-time clinically relevant patient information and up-to-date evidence-based clinical decision support tools in the hands of providers. We strongly believe that an interoperable system supporting such technologies as electronic health records, electronic prescribing, and clinical decision support tools will lead to a higher standard of quality in the U.S. health care system. Unfortunately, the costs of acquiring such technologies remain prohibitively expensive for most physician practices.

There are several provisions of the "Health Information Technology Act," however, that significantly improve the environment allowing providers to move toward a full-scale adoption of HIT. Specific provisions of importance are:

Authorization of adjustments to the Medicare physician payment system when an identifiable medical service is provided by health care providers who use HIT to manage patients with chronic illnesses;
Creation of one-time funding for grants and tax deductions for health care providers to purchase and install electronic health record systems and other HIT devices;
Priority of funding given to those health care providers whose patient population is significantly made of Medicare, Medicaid, and S-chip, and to those providers practicing in designated health professional shortage areas; and
Adoption of uniform HIT standards within two years.

Once again, ACP wishes to congratulate you on the introduction of the "Health Information Technology Act." We believe that providing financial incentives for the adoption of HIT will achieve the ultimate objective of improving the quality of care for all Americans. The introduction of the "Health Information Technology Act" is a significant step toward achieving that goal.

Sincerely,

C. Anderson Hedberg, M.D., FACP
President