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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Pierluisi Introduces Legislation to Fully Include Puerto Rico in Federal Law That Provides Incentive Payments to Hospitals That Adopt and Use Electronic Health Records

WASHINGTON, DC- The Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, today introduced legislation to fully include Puerto Rico hospitals in the HITECH Act, a federal law that seeks to encourage doctors and hospitals to use electronic health records for the benefit of their patients.

At the same time, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced a similar bill in the U.S. Senate.

The HITECH Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, authorizes bonus payments under Medicare and Medicaid for eligible doctors and hospitals that become meaningful users of electronic health records and, in certain cases, penalizes those doctors and hospitals that fail to adopt such technology by a certain date. The HITECH Act omitted Puerto Rico hospitals from the Medicare incentive program.

Working in close consultation with the Puerto Rico Hospital Association, the Resident Commissioner filed legislation in February 2010 to fully include Island hospitals in the HITECH Act, and today he reintroduced this legislation with the support of 10 of his House colleagues.

If Pierluisi’s bill becomes law, it is estimated that Puerto Rico hospitals would receive an additional $10 million per year over the next 10 years.

“This is a simple but important modification to the HITECH Act. Electronic health record systems have many benefits for doctors and hospitals and ultimately improve patient care. Puerto Rico hospitals, like hospitals in the states, should be eligible to receive incentive payments from the federal government—under both Medicare and Medicaid—to encourage them to adopt electronic health records,” said Pierluisi.

“I am grateful to Senator Menendez for introducing a companion bill in the Senate and look forwarding to working with him and our other allies in both chambers to ensure that this important measure is enacted into law,” added the Resident Commissioner.

According to Pierluisi, there is no principled basis to exclude Puerto Rico hospitals from the Medicare component of the HITECH Act, especially since Island residents pay the Medicare payroll tax just like their fellow citizens in the states.

In the House, Pierluisi’s bill was introduced with the co-sponsorship of Robert Andrews (D-NJ), a leader on health issues in Congress; Charles Rangel (D-NY), the former chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means; John Conyers (D-MI), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee; José Serrano (D-NY); Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ); Donna Christensen (D-VI); Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA); Grace Napolitano (D-CA); Eni Faleomavaega (D-AS); and Gregorio Kilili Sablan (D-CNMI).

In the Senate, Senator Menendez’s bill was introduced with the support of Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA).