Senate HELP Committee Approves Health IT Bill

WASHINGTON–The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee unanimously approved legislation last week that would
speed up the adoption of information technology in health care.

The Wired for Health Care Quality Act combines a bill that had
been backed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Sen.
Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., along with a bill that had been introduced
by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

The compromise bipartisan bill would authorize a National
Coordinator of Health IT–a position currently held by David
Brailer–to oversee the creation of an IT infrastructure for the
nation’s health care providers and establish a quality measurement
system that would award higher payments to providers who improve
the quality of care patients receive.

The legislation would also approve grants of $125 million in FY
2006 and $155 million in FY 2007 to health care providers to
increase the use of health IT. Although implementing health IT is
costly, some experts estimate it could save about $140 billion each
year.