Medical IT legislation
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
"Health Technology to Enhance Quality Act of 2005," introduced June 16 by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), would codify the Office of National Coordinator for Information Technology, announced by the Administration in April 2004, and establish standards to guide the design and implementation of interoperable health information systems. The bill extends healthcare providers a "narrow" safe harbor from federal Stark self-referral and anti-kickback laws in cases where such leeway is advantageous to facilitate health IT adoption, and directs HHS to devise guidelines to permit health plans and providers to share in savings that result from adopting health IT. On the house side, Reps. Tim Murphy (R-Penn.) and Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) have introduced "The 21 Century Health Information Act" (HR 2234) (1"The Gray Sheet" June 6, 2005, p.11)...