Health IT Now! Coalition Meets with Members of Congress
April 2, 2008
Coalition member Business Roundtable holds press event
with Senators Kennedy and Enzi to promote legislation
WASHINGTON – Over twenty member organizations of the Health IT Now! Coalition held a full day of meetings with key House and Senate leaders today, urging them to quickly pass health information technology (health IT) legislation. The meetings culminated in a press event where Senate and business leaders joined together, calling upon Members of Congress to act on a health IT bill during the current session.
Health IT Coalition Members Urge Congress to Support Health IT Legislation for Patient Benefits
March 14, 2008
Care providers and patients explain how Health IT reduces medical errors, improves prescription accuracy and increases care for underserved communities.
WASHINGTON – Citing numerous benefits to patients and their families, Members of the Health IT Now! Coalition called on Congress to pass health information technology (Health IT) legislation this year.
“Information technology will be essential to the success of any quality improvement or access initiative in health care,” said Nancy Johnson, spokesperson for the Health IT Now! Coalition. “It has the potential to improve the accuracy of prescriptions, improve care for underserved communities, enable better chronic care coordination for seniors, and much more. Congress must pass legislation this year to bring this vital tool to patient care.”
Governors Urge Congress to Quickly Pass HIT Legislation
February 25, 2008
Delay in federal action stalls state-level progress on
Improving health care quality and containing spiraling costs
WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of governors today called on Congress to quickly pass legislation establishing federal standards and guidance for health information technology (Health IT).
In a press conference at the National Press Club, Governor Chet Culver, Democrat of Iowa, Governor Jim Douglas, Republican of Vermont, and Governor Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, described the growing state-level demand for health IT. The governors said that progress in every state is limited because the federal government has yet to establish national health IT standards. Such standards must be set by Congress, they stated, and will finally allow care providers, insurers and state programs to know what kind of software and hardware systems to design and purchase so every state can be interoperable with all the others.
Health IT Coalition, Technology Executives, Members of Congress Urge Support of Health IT Legislation
February 12, 2008
Health care and technology leaders urge passage this year to bring better health care, greater convenience, and reining in spiraling health care costs
WASHINGTON – Members of the Health IT Now! Coalition and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) called on Congress to pass health information technology (Health IT) legislation this year. This press conference was followed by a demonstration of cutting-edge health information technology showing how the implementation of health IT can revolutionize the benefits to patients, health care consumers, and health practitioners.
President Bush Calls on Congress to Act on Health Information Technology
January 29, 2008
Health IT Now! Coalition applauds State of the Union appeal for health IT system to save lives and help control spiraling health care costs
WASHINGTON – The Health IT Now! Coalition today commended President Bush for urging Congress to pass legislation promoting health information technology (Health IT).
“Congress must … promote health information technology,” said President Bush in the national address.
The President further promoted the initiative in a supporting document distributed to the press, titled “Empowering Americans with Affordable Options for Health Care.” In it, the White House asserts that “Health IT systems can give citizens better access to their health information, resulting in informed decisions about their care and a better understanding of the quality of the care they are receiving.”
Nation’s Leading Health Associations, Professional Organizations, Businesses Join “Health IT Now!” Coalition
January 17, 2008
Groups Urge Immediate Congressional Action on Health IT Legislation
WASHINGTON – Fifteen of America’s leading health associations, professional organizations and corporations have joined the Health IT Now! Coalition to promote the rapid deployment of health information technology (Health IT). The coalition is calling for Congress to pass Health IT legislation as soon as possible.
Join USTelecom, the American Telemedicine Association and Health Tech Strategies for a “Health Care and Broadband Webinar” on December 12th. The Webinar will demonstrate how telemedicine, eHealth and remote monitoring are improving health care at a reduced cost for a greater number of geographically diverse patients.
Health IT Now! Coalition Tells Congress Health IT Is Historic Solution To Remedy Health Care Disparities
Testimony argues Health IT removes opportunities for discrimination, improves access and follow-up care, and raises treatment priority for underserved Americans
WASHINGTON, DC – In Congressional testimony submitted today, Health IT Now! Coalition Executive Director Joel White urged Congress to pass legislation this year to promote the deployment and adoption of health IT. “Our Coalition believes the federal government can and will work in harmony with the states and the private sector to deploy Health IT,” said Mr. White, “to promote better access to and coordination of care in underserved communities.”
Mr. White’s testimony was submitted as part of a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Management, Organization and Procurement of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The hearing was titled, “Too Many Cooks? Coordinating Federal and State Health IT.”
“Health IT is helping us reach patients in isolated, rural communities. The entire country should receive those benefits: better care, greater access with patient empowerment and convenience, and a healthier life,” said Douglas Reding MD, MPH, Vice President of Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinics, a member of Health IT Now!. Mr. White’s testimony cited efforts at the medical centers.
The members of the Health IT Now! coalition urge you to improve America’s health care system by passing legislation this year to help deliver Health IT.
Immediate legislative action is required to clear the way for health care providers to use interoperable computer technology. Health IT will improve quality of care, save lives by significantly reducing the 98,000 deaths caused each year by medical errors, eliminate most duplicate and unnecessary testing, dramatically lower health care costs, and improve health care access for all Americans.
Health IT relies in large part on the same technology that banks use in ATMs and that business and industry use to manage information. It is time to put that technology to use in improving medical care and saving lives.
Health IT Now! Coalition Applauds Health IT Bill Introduced by Senators Kennedy, Enzi, Clinton & Hatch
June 21, 2007
WASHINGTON – The Health IT Now! coalition applauds a bill introduced today by Senators Edward Kennedy, Michael Enzi, Hillary Clinton and Orrin Hatch to bring health information technology (Health IT) to all Americans. The Senate bill adopts several of the Health IT Now! coalition principles to promote the widespread adoption of health information technology. In particular, the legislation sets a date certain for establishing interoperability standards, provides grants and loans to providers, empowers public-private partnerships, and codifies aspects of the Health IT effort into law, thus helping to realize life-saving—and cost-saving—advances of modern technology.
