(4) A General Accounting Office October 2003 
report found that the benefits of an electronic 
healthcare information system included improved 
quality of care, reduced costs associated with medi-
cation errors, more accurate and complete medical 
documentation, more accurate capture of codes and 
charges, and improved communication among pro-
viders enabling them to respond more quickly to pa-
tients’ needs. 
(5) Other more recent studies and surveys show 
that cultivating a national healthcare information in-
frastructure and improving patient care will depend 
crucially on adoption of uniform medical data stand-
ards and interoperability. 
(6) The ability of physicians to deliver patient- 
centered care to patients, particularly those with 
multiple chronic illnesses, will depend on having the 
electronic systems in place at the practice level to 
enable them to track patients by disease conditions, 
to have access to evidence-based clinical decision 
support tools at the point of care, to share informa-
tion with patients and other health care profes-
sionals, and to track, measure and report on the 
qualify of care provided. 
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(7) A Commonwealth Fund survey of physicians 
found that there is a gap between physicians’ sup-
port for and willingness to provide such patient-cen-
tered services and having the electronic systems in 
place to enable them to do, with the costs of acquir-
ing and maintaining such systems being identified as 
a major barrier. 
(8) Acquisition costs, physician and staff time 
required to transition from paper-based offices to 
electronic health systems, and the lack of industry 
standards on interoperability are the principle bar-
riers to creating a national health information infra-
structure. 
(9) The success of a national health informa-
tion infrastructure depends on the widespread use 
and acceptance of electronic health records and 
other health information technologies in physician 
offices. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows: 
(1) To create incentives that encourage physi-
cians and other health professionals to adopt inter-
operable electronic health records, electronic pre-
scribing systems, evidence-based clinical decision 
tools, remote monitoring, patient registries, secure 
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email, and other health information technology as a 
key component of a national health care information 
infrastructure in the United States to ensure the 
rapid flow of secure, private and digitized informa-
tion relevant to all facets of patient care. 
(2) To do so in a voluntary manner that does 
not become an unfunded mandate on small physician 
practices. 
(3) To do so in a manner that does not com-
promise the medical care provider’s ability to make 
patient care decisions based solely on his or her clin-
ical expertise and experience, and what the provider 
and patient concludes is the best for a particular pa-
tient based upon scientific evidence and knowledge 
of the patient’s medical history. 
SEC. 3. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR 
HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 
the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Informa-
tion Technology. The Office shall be headed by a National 
Coordinator appointed by the President, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The 
National Coordinator shall report directly to the Sec-
retary. 
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