December 10, 2007 - U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt urged Congress Dec. 4 to include a requirement for doctors to use electronic health records as part of any proposed Medicare physician payment bill.

In a letter sent to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Tuesday, Secretary Leavitt laid out the administration's demand that any Medicare legislation this year include a requirement that doctors adopt health IT.

The bill should "Condition receipt of a portion of any fee adjustment to adoption of certified electronic health information technology. Physicians who do not adopt appropriate, available technology should receive a lower payment than those who do," Leavitt wrote.

The administration, and Leavitt in particular, has made wider adoption of health IT a major priority and a cornerstone of its efforts to promote better quality medical care and a reduction in medical errors.

On Nov. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule calling for a 10.1 percent reduction in payment rates for physicians beginning Jan. 1, 2008. Physician groups hope to have this reversed by last minute legislation before Congress breaks for the holidays, and for the last five years, Congress has intervened to temporarily suspend requirements the would require decreases.

Despite Leavitt's call for healthcare IT adoption, a physician payment fix bill already faces strain. Congress' last-minute deferral of a five percent cut to Medicare reimbursements last year puts extra pressure on retaining the cut this year.

For more information: www.himss.org


Related Content

News | Enterprise Imaging

June 28, 2024 — Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas announced today a strategic partnership with Apollo Enterprise ...

Time June 28, 2024
arrow
News | Radiology Imaging

May 31, 2024 — MDView, a virtual care and medical second opinion platform, surveys users of its Radiology Second Opinion ...

Time May 31, 2024
arrow
Feature | Digital Radiography (DR) | By Melinda Taschetta-Millane

Digital radiography (DR) continues to advance at a rapid pace with today’s technological innovations and evolving ...

Time May 06, 2024
arrow
Feature | Information Technology | By Jef Williams

The rapid growth of healthcare data has reached unprecedented heights, making up about 30% of the world’s stored data.¹ ...

Time April 30, 2024
arrow
News | Cybersecurity

March 14, 2024 — The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued a new letter to federal officials in which it praised ...

Time March 14, 2024
arrow
News | HIMSS

March 13, 2024 — The Health Information Management Systems Society, HIMSS, and the Korean Health Information Service ...

Time March 13, 2024
arrow
News | Enterprise Imaging

February 26, 2024 — Hyland Healthcare, a leading global provider of intelligent content and enterprise imaging solutions ...

Time February 26, 2024
arrow
Feature | Enterprise Imaging

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems (HIMSS24) Conference and Exhibition (March 12-14, in Orlando, Fla.) is ...

Time February 14, 2024
arrow
News | Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

December 18, 2023 — Exo (pronounced “echo”), a pioneering medical imaging software and devices company, released its ...

Time December 18, 2023
arrow
News | Enterprise Imaging

November 16, 2023 — At the 2023 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting in Chicago on Nov. 26-30 ...

Time November 16, 2023
arrow
Subscribe Now