S. 1693 would enhance the adoption of a nationwide interoperable health information technology system and it would improve the quality and reduce the costs of health care in the United States.
Detailed Summary
Wired for Health Care Quality Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology.
Establishes a public-private Partnership for Health Care Improvement to recommend specific actions to achieve a nationwide interoperable health information technology infrastructure. Provides for the adoption by the federal government of standards for the electronic exchange of health information.
Establishes the American Health Information Community to provide advice to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the heads of any relevant federal agencies concerning the policy considerations related to health information technology.
Authorizes the Secretary to award grants for the: (1) purchase of qualified health information technology systems; (2) implementation of regional or local health information plans; and (3) development of academic curricula integrating qualified health information technology systems in the clinical education of health professionals.
Requires the Secretary to provide for the development and use of health care quality measures to measure the quality and efficiency of health care that patients receive.
Extends health information privacy requirements to an operator of a health information electronic database. Gives individuals the right to inspect and obtain a copy of their protected health information stored in electronic format.
Directs the Comptroller General to report on the circumstances in which it is necessary and workable to require that individuals be notified if their individually identifiable health information is wrongly disclosed.
Requires the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to develop a Health Information Technology Resource Center.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 10/1/2007: By Senator Kennedy from Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions filed written report. Report No. 110-187.
Points in Favor
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Points Against
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Visitor Comments
safuller747@msn.com
Working in the health care industry for over 30 years I see so many areas of concern. Being part of an EMR/PM implementation team, working directly with hospitals and clinics on the operational workflow issues and seeing how 'symptom based medicine' as become the norm, directed by insurance on what and what can not be done for the patient, something has to change in order for the people in the U.S. to get quality healthcare at a reasonable cost. I will get off my soap box - but I am willing to assist in making this changes and I do believe that the electronic world is a major part of the solution.
Thank you Shirley
James Mhyre, MD
We have a budget at the federal level this year of $61M to support healthcare electronic communication. Canada will spend approximately $400M for similar services in 2007. Canada is farther along with their national health network. We recognize that more investment in infrastructure, standards, and interoperability is needed without wasting time and resources with too many false starts and orphaned projects. Can HITSP and AHIC lead the way? This bill should provide some funding to support those efforts. Maybe it will be Microsoft and Google setting the de facto standards and the federal government can stand down!
Daniel Castro
ITIF, a non-partisan think tank recently released a report on the benefits of electronic health records, the current obstacles to adoption, and strategies to overcome these obstacles. One recommendation was to establish national standards for health information, which this bill will help establish. The report is available online at
http://www.itif.org/files/HealthIT.pdf
Barb Clark , R.N.
I am very concerned about the upcoming National Health Information Network. I have put up information about this on my web-site at dub dub dub BarbClark dot org.