Nussle Votes to Improve Health Care for Iowans

Nussle Votes to Improve Health Care for Iowans

- Congressman Jim Nussle today reaffirmed his commitment to providing affordable, accessible health care for Iowans by voting in favor of the Health Information Technology Promotion Act (H.R. 4157), which passed the U.S. House on a bipartisan vote of 270-148.

"Our health care system currently relies on outdated technology to process and share vital health information," Nussle said. "We need to utilize the best information technology available in our health care system so Iowans are receiving the very best health care services. This legislation helps patients by saving time, cutting expenses, and reducing costly - and potentially deadly - mistakes due to human error."

The Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2005 will create more efficiency in our health care system by utilizing the latest technology to store and share information. It makes the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) a permanent entity within the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the implementation of health information technology in both the public and private health care sectors.

Specifically, this legislation does the following:

* Allows hospitals and group practices to provide physicians with hardware, software, training and IT support
* Creates uniform information security standards that combine the many state and federal privacy laws
* Provides for the certification of health information technologies to ensure nationwide interoperability
* Updates diagnosis coding systems to reflect modern medical technology and knowledge
* Requires a report to Congress within two years of its enactment on the progress of its implementation of health IT

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/ia01_nussle/HealthIT.html