Update on "Promoting Health Information Technology Act"

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) recently introduced HR.3800, "Promoting Health Information Technology Act", as a match to the Senate's "Wired for Health Care Quality Act" (S.1693).  As a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Eshoo's office has reportedly been concentrating on finding fellow committee members to sign on as co-sponsors in order to increase the likelihood of the bill receiving a hearing before Congress recesses for the winter holidays.  Thus far, Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) is the bill's only co-sponsor.

HR. 3800 is written similarly to its Senate equivalent.  The bill would establish the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT (ONC) into law, while also creating the "Partnership for Health Care Improvement," a public-private partnership designed to recommend standards and technology to the Secretary of HHS.  The "American Health Information Community" (AHIC) would be codified as a federal advisory committee in the bill.  The bill also creates pathways for the development and adoption of quality measures in health reporting, while establishing three grant programs for individual provider communities, state level loan programs and HIE development projects.

eHealth Initiative has been working with Congressional staff to advocate for the committee to hold a hearing on the bill.