HIMSS News
Healthcare Reform Update: House Could Hold Vote and AHRQ Releases EHR Usability Studies
November 6, 2009
Congressional Affairs
The White House communicated to Congress a deadline for the end of this year to pass healthcare reform legislation. To that end, much has been happening in both the Senate and the House.
Before heading home to observe Veterans Day, House Democratic leadership hopes for a November 7 vote on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. To prepare for a vote, the House Rules Committee will first iron-out rules of debate for the legislation. Before a final vote is cast, it is likely that the House will consider the issue of use of federal funds for abortions and an alternative healthcare reform proposal developed by the Republican Caucus.
Democratic leadership is working hard to secure the 218 votes needed to pass legislation. Democrats strengthened their prospects for passage this week through two special November 3 elections. California’s Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi was sworn into office on November 5, representing California’s 10th Congressional District. New York Lawyer Bill Owens is expected to be sworn into office on November 6, representing New York’s 23rd Congressional District.
H.R. 3962 is comprehensive healthcare reform legislation developed in the House, and is a product of the original house legislation, H.R. 3200 (the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act). Among many things, H.R. 3962 would establish a public health insurance option, require individuals to have health insurance, expand Medicaid, and leverage health IT in such activities as care coordination and home-based care. A full listing of the legislation’s health IT related provisions can be accessed on the HIMSS Web site. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the gross cost of coverage expansions established through the legislation would be about $1.055 trillion over a ten-year period (2010-2019).
In the Senate, Democratic leaders are awaiting the cost estimate of a healthcare reform proposal submitted to the CBO by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The legislation is said to include an “opt-out” option for states taking on a public health insurance option.
As Senators await the CBO’s cost estimate, Senator Olympia Snowe’s (R-ME) public health insurance proposal for a “trigger option” is gaining momentum among many moderate democrats. Senator Snowe’s trigger option would establish a standard of affordability to gauge whether individuals had access to reasonably-priced health insurance. On a state-by-state basis, the federal government would apply that standard and test whether or not enough individuals had access to affordable healthcare coverage. A public option would then be introduced in a state where not enough individuals had access to affordable healthcare coverage.
Federal Affairs
One of the emerging hot topics in the world of health IT policy focuses on concerns regarding the usability of EHRs. This week, AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) released its commissioned reports on EHR usability. The reports, titled AHRQ Report on EHR Usability: Evaluation and Use Case Framework and AHRQ Report on EHR Usability: Interface Design Considerations are freely available.
HIMSS has been actively engaged in the usability discussion. For example, the HIMSS Usability Workgroup released a paper in July titled Defining and Testing EHR Usability.
AHRQ continued to make news this week as AHRQ Director Dr. Carolyn Clancy released a new advice column on AHRQ's Web site discussing how consumers of healthcare can determine if their hospital is "doing a good job." To aide in that research, Dr. Clancy announced the launch of HospitalCompare, a Web-tool designed to show users how effectively hospitals treat patients regarding specific illnesses and surgical procedures, with a specific focus on readmission rates. Dr. Clancy also shares other tips for being an effective healthcare consumer.
The Department of Commerce continues to actively engage in health IT issues. Last week, the DoC International Trade Administration Office of Health and Consumer Goods posted a white paper titled “Telemedicine: An Important Force in the Transformation of Healthcare.” The paper, which was written by International Trade Specialist Matthew Hein, emphasizes telemedicine’s capabilities to provide quality healthcare access to underserved remote communities and points out barriers preventing the acceleration of telemedicine applications.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has lead to the creation of numerous regulatory measures impacting health IT stakeholders and HIMSS has taken the lead in offering public comment in response to proposed and interim rules. In August, HHS released an interim final rule requiring HIPAA-covered entities to notify patients if their personal health information is breached. HIMSS responded with public comments. In the coming weeks, HIMSS will coordinate additional public comment responses to the expected interim final rules on EHR certification and the proposed rule for Meaningful Use. Please monitor the Healthcare Reform Update and other HIMSS e-publications for details on how you can offer input on those comments.
At the October 29 kick-off meeting of the HIT Standards Committee Implementation Workgroup Public Meeting, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra encouraged individuals to provide observations on the implementation of standards for meaningful use through the HHS blog. The blog will accept comments for the next two weeks. Overall comments will be presented at the HIT Standards Committee meeting on November 19. HIMSS strongly encourages members to use the blog to submit comments.
