Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Dave Camp (MI-4) and Sam Johnson (TX-3) introduced the Promoting Health Information Technology (PHIT) Act of 2008 (H.R. 6179), which they deemed “a workable solution that utilizes public-private partnerships and tax incentives to rapidly adopt Health IT while protecting patient privacy.”
Camp and Johnson touted savings in both human and financial terms as the primary reason for the legislation. Industry estimates suggest that each year preventable medical errors kill nearly 100,000 people and injure another 1.5 million Americans. The Rand Corporation has stated the widespread adoption of HIT could save $165 billion annually.
“This bill provides the path to make the implementation of HIT a reality, not just the topic of another committee hearing,” said Camp. “Lives are being lost and money is being wasted. We need to listen to health care professionals and patients alike in building an HIT framework. This bill does that.”
“This bill will help bring our healthcare system into the 21st century and protect patient privacy. Health information technology is a crucial building block needed to successfully reform how healthcare is delivered in this country. To increase the quality of patient care to the level that Americans want, need and deserve, we need health information technology to find its way into every doctor's office, hospital and healthcare facility,” said Johnson.
Specifically the bill:
Provides incentives to adopt HIT: Health information technology is expensive. A practice of five physicians could easily spend upwards of $200,000 to implement an electronic health record. To speed adoption the PHIT Act would allow physicians who purchase HIT to deduct a larger portion of this business expense more quickly. PHIT also eliminates the arbitrary 2013 sunset HHS placed on the practice of hospitals providing physicians with software for electronic health records. PHIT expands the EHR demonstration project run by CMS to include Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) which will improve the technology available to these providers who see millions of uninsured each year.
Creates certainty: PHIT codifies the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, which was created by President Bush in 2005 via Executive Order. The lack of statutory authority has limited the Coordinator’s ability to make long-term strategic plans or investments to speed the adoption of new technologies. PHIT also delineates the responsibilities of the American Health Information Community (AHIC) to make recommendations to the HHS Secretary for HIT standards. PHIT creates an updated AHIC 2.0 that transforms the advisory group into a private-public partnership that gives providers, consumer groups, manufacturers, and health plans the ability to participate in this standard-developing body.
Sets standards: To ensure standards are adopted in the most appropriate manner, PHIT requires the Secretary to develop a strategic plan to coordinate the implementation of technology and privacy standards among all federal entities involved in the development of HIT. PHIT also establishes an expedited process to approve modifications of existing standards. Currently, these modifications can languish for months or even years.
Protects patient privacy: For HIT to work and be successful, patients must know that their medical information is safe. PHIT requires the HHS Secretary to conduct a study on current federal security and confidentially standards to identify strengths and weaknesses. This report is due within 24 months, and requires the Secretary to provide recommendations to strengthen current standards to protect medical records. Until that report is completed, no federal regulation may be issued that could weaken the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that currently protects privacy.
Joining as original co-sponsors are Reps. Wally Herger (CA-2), Jim Ramstad (MN-3), Phil English (PA-3), Jerry Weller (IL-7), Kenny Hulshof (MO-9), Phil Gingrey (GA-11), Jon Porter (NV-3), Charles Boustany (LA-7) and Tom Price (GA-6).
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