Chamber Praises House Passage of Health Information Technology Bill

WASHINGTON, DC—The United States Chamber of Commerce praised the House for passing H.R. 4157, the Health Information Technology Promotion Act, a bill designed to promote the adoption of electronic medical records by hospitals and physicians' offices.

"This bill will save lives and dollars," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president for Government Affairs. "Better health information technology will curb the number of deaths that occur each year due to medical errors and could yield cost savings of $140 billion per year."

A recently released report by the Institute of Medicine indicates that medication errors harm at least 1.5 million people every year and that the cost of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone conservatively amounts to $3.5 billion a year. These errors could be avoided by improving the health communication infrastructure. Electronic health records that can be shared across geographic regions, at any hospital and on any computer system, could dramatically improve the efficiency and quality of the nation's healthcare system, while reducing costs, according to the IOM report Preventing Medication Errors: Quality Chasm Series released last week.

The legislation would codify the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, extend safe harbors under federal anti-kickback laws, and create an expedited process for the approval of new information-sharing standards.

"H.R. 4157 is a crucial first step toward implementing a nationwide health information technology system and improving both cost and quality in America's health care system," said Josten. "It is essential for a truly interoperable, nationwide network of electronic health information."

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

www.uschamber.com

# # #

06-127