Chairman Gordon Encouraged by Release of Comprehensive Health IT Draft
(Washington, DC) – In response to the release today of draft legislation by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) had the following statement:
“My goal has always been for the 110th Congress to move comprehensive healthcare IT legislation. This draft represents a collaborative work product that creates a statutory framework for encouraging the use of and regulation of Health IT while still addressing the necessary mechanisms to develop and resolve the technical standard issues included in H.R. 2406. I am proud to be associated with this bill and believe that advancing this legislation will ultimately save billions of dollars in health care costs while improving the quality of care and reducing medical errors.”
Chairman Gordon sponsored H.R. 2406, the Healthcare Enterprise Integration Act, which the Committee passed in 2007. The bill authorized the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to increase its efforts in support of the integration of the healthcare information enterprise in the U.S. It was intended to improve technology in the healthcare system by creating a national, interoperable health IT system to maintain patient healthcare records. A comprehensive Health IT system could potentially benefit thousands of people a year who suffer due to medical errors, improper diagnoses, or being prescribed incorrect medications due to lack of a comprehensive family medical history or poorly maintained records.
For more information, including a summary of H.R. 2406, please see the Committee website.
###
110.255
Related Subcommittees
Next Article Previous Article