New Bill Promotes Nationwide Health Information Technology Infrastructure
On July 27, 2006, House Bill H.R. 4157, the "Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2006" was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation will now go to conference to be reconciled with Senate Bill S.1418, a health information technology promotion bill which was passed in the Senate on November 18, 2005.
H.R. 4157 includes a number of provisions aimed at promoting the coordination and adoption of interoperable health information technology in the United States. The legislation includes, among other measures, provisions for restructuring the national health IT coordination and planning efforts, specifically the role and responsibilities of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Under the legislation, the National Coordinator is tasked with the development of a "nationwide interoperable health information technology infrastructure."
The legislation also provides for grants to certain health systems and providers to promote health IT adoption, and provisions updating standard healthcare transactions standards, including the replacement of ICD-9 with ICD-10 as the national standard for certain health care electronic transactions (i.e., under the HIPAA transaction standards).
The ICD-10 upgrade is notable because the ICD-10 incorporates more detail in clinical content that will provide better information for use connection with (i) quality measurement, (ii) pay-for-performance programs, and (iii) reimbursement communications.
The Bill also implements a process for evaluating whether state and federal privacy laws can be made more uniform and predictable.