[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 102 (Friday, July 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1588-E1589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROMOTION ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. CATHY McMORRIS

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4157) to 
     amend the Social Security Act to encourage the dissemination, 
     security, confidentiality, and usefulness of health 
     information technology:

  Miss McMORRIS. Mr. Chairman, please consider the attached letters of 
support for the McMorris-Smith MAP IT Amendment to H.R. 4157 as 
included in my remarks.

                                                    July 27, 2006.
     Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
     Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Speaker: Congress has made substantial progress in 
     moving health information technology (HIT) legislation this 
     year. We urge you to expeditiously pass this legislation now 
     as a critical step toward realizing the President's goal of 
     electronic health records for most Americans.
       There is one amendment to this legislation that HIMSS would 
     like for you to consider when this legislation is brought up 
     on the House floor today that will be offered by Ms. Cathy 
     McMorris and Mr. Adam Smith of Washington. This amendment 
     would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
     establish a two year project to demonstrate the impact of 
     health information technology on disease management for 
     chronic disease sufferers within the Medicaid population; 
     create a web-based virtual case management tool that provides 
     access to best practices for managing chronic disease; and 
     require that the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
     submit to Congress a report on the project conducted and 
     include in the report the amount of cost-savings resulting 
     from the project and such recommendations for legislation or 
     administrative action as the Secretary determines 
     appropriate. There is no funding authorized for this 
     amendment. HIMSS supports this amendment as it is consistent 
     with our HIMSS Legislative Principle of encouraging the best 
     use of information technology to improve the quality of 
     health care while lowering the cost.
       HIMSS believes that H.R. 4157 and the addition of this 
     amendment will help fulfill President Bush's goal of most 
     Americans having an electronic health record by the year 
     2014. The passage of health information technology 
     legislation is critical to moving us towards these benefits. 
     With that in mind, we urge you to pass H.R. 4157 and the 
     McMorris/Smith amendment by the August break so that a 
     conference report with the Senate can be completed and the 
     Congress can pass meaningful healthcare reform this year.
           Sincerely,
                                                H. Stephen Lieber,
     CAE President/CEO.
                                  ____

                                                    July 27, 2006.
     Hon. Cathy McMorris,
     1708 Longworth Office Building,
     Washington, DC.

     Hon. Adam Smith,
     227 Cannon Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congresswoman McMorris and Congressman Smith: The 
     American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) 
     thanks you for your strong support of health information 
     technology and your efforts to improve healthcare quality, 
     increase patient safety, and to reduce unnecessary costs and 
     administrative burdens in our healthcare system. AHIMA 
     strongly supports H.R. 4157, the ``Health Information 
     Technology Promotion Act,'' and supports the inclusion of 
     your amendment, the Medicaid Access Project through 
     Information Technology (MAP IT) legislation.
       Experts report that two of the simplest ways to reduce 
     health care costs include the utilization of health 
     information technology and more effective chronic disease 
     management. Your amendment effectively merges these two 
     methods together, and requires the Secretary to report to 
     Congress the amount of cost-savings resulting from the 
     project.
       Along with your amendment, AHIMA strongly supports all of 
     the provisions of H.R. 4157, especially those that address 
     the timely updating of standards that enable electronic 
     exchange and the critical need to upgrade our inefficient and 
     ambiguous ICD-9 coding system to ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS by 
     October 1, 2010. This compliance date is more than 4 years 
     from today and nearly 8 years from when the National 
     Committee on Vital and Health Statistics concluded in 2003, 
     after several years of hearings, that ICD-9-CM was 
     ``increasingly unable to address the needs for accurate data 
     for health care billing, quality assurance, and health 
     services research,'' and that it was ``in the best interests 
     of the country'' to move expeditiously to replace it.
       Coded health data serves as the foundation for billing, 
     claims processing, payment and pricing. The current 
     classification, ICD-9-CM, was developed and implemented in 
     the 1970s and can no longer capture today's medical knowledge 
     and cannot support the transition to an interoperable health 
     data exchange in the United States. In addition, the 
     procedural coding component of ICD-9-CM is fast running out 
     of space and in the near future, will exhaust these codes 
     requiring that existing non-discrete codes be assigned to new 
     procedures. Dr. Mark McClellan, CMS Administrator, publicly 
     stated last month that it is imperative that the United 
     States implement ICD-10 as soon as possible because he 
     described the current coding system as ``bursting at the 
     seams.'' Furthermore, many of the codes now in use do not 
     accurately describe the diagnosis or procedure concepts they 
     are assigned to represent. Combined with the exhaustion of 
     codes, this will have serious implications for quality 
     reporting, research and appropriate payment for advancements 
     in medical technology.
       Thank you for advancing the MAP IT amendment and for 
     supporting an important and good bill. We look forward to 
     continuing our work with you. If you have any questions, 
     please do not hesitate to contact me.
           Sincerely,
     Don Asmonga,
       Director of Government Relations, American Health 
     Information Management Association.
                                  ____

                                                    July 27, 2006.
     Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
     Speaker, House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Speaker: Thank you for the consideration of H.R. 
     4157 today on the floor of the House of Representatives. 
     Advancing health information technology (HIT) is of critical 
     importance to bettering patient quality, evidence-based 
     medicine, and modernizing our industry.
       Northwest Physicians Network (NPN) is the largest delegated 
     independent physicians association in the Northwest. We 
     represent approximately 450 physicians in Washington State 
     and over 17,000 patient lives for which we contract for 
     managed care. NPN has made HIT a cornerstone of our 
     investment in the future of our patients' care and our 
     physicians' practices, so it is with some anticipation that 
     we have followed the House's progress on H.R. 4157.
       In particular, I am writing in support of an amendment 
     brought to the floor by Rep. Adam Smith and Rep. Cathy 
     McMorris. This amendment would direct the Secretary of Health 
     and Human Services to establish a 2-year project to 
     demonstrate the impact of health information technology on 
     disease management for chronic disease sufferers within the 
     Medicaid population. It would create a web-based virtual case 
     management tool that provides access to best practices for 
     managing chronic disease. Also, this amendment requires that 
     the Secretary of

[[Page E1589]]

     Health and Human Services submit to Congress a report on the 
     project conducted and include in the report the amount of 
     cost-savings resulting from the project and such 
     recommendations for legislation or administrative action as 
     the Secretary determines appropriate. There is no funding 
     authorized for this amendment.
       Both Ms. McMorris and Mr. Smith are leaders among our 
     Pacific Northwest delegation on the topic of HIT. Their 
     bipartisan collaboration on this measure speaks to the 
     common-sense approach of the amendment itself. I urge your 
     support and the House's adoption of this important 
     legislation.
           Sincerely,

                                           Patricia C. Briggs,

                                          Chief Executive Officer,
     Northwest Physicians Network.

                          ____________________