National Health Information Technology Adoption Act

Bill: 108-s-2710
Sponsor: Sen. Gregg, Judd [R-NH]
Introduced: 2004-07-21 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Armed Forces and National Security
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Commerce
Communication in medicine
Computer security measures
Computer software
Computers
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Demography
Department of Health and Human Services
Economics and Public Finance
Electronic data interchange
Employee health benefits
Executive reorganization
Families
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to health facilities
Federally-guaranteed loans
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government procurement
Government publicity
Health care industry
Health facilities
Health information systems
Health insurance
Health surveys
Hospital rates
Hospitals
Information technology
Insurance companies
Labor and Employment
Law
Licenses
Medicaid
Medical fees
Medical records
Medical statistics
Medically uninsured
Medicare
Military medicine
Patients' rights
Performance measurement
Physicians
Poor children
Public-private partnerships
Quality of care
Right of privacy
Science, Technology, Communications
Social Welfare
Standards
Strategic planning
Veterans' medical care

Summary:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: 
National Health Information Technology Adoption Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish the Office of Health Information Technology to: (1) improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivery through the use of health information technology; (2) provide national leadership relating to such technology; (3) direct all health information technology activities within the Department of Health and Human Services and coordinate such efforts across the Federal Government; and (4) facilitate the interaction between the Government and the private sector relating to the development and use of such technology. 
 
Requires the Director of the Office to provide for the adoption, dissemination, and updating of health information technology standards that promote the efficient exchange of data between varieties of provider health information technology systems.
 
Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from purchasing any health care information technology system that is not in compliance with such standards.
 
Requires the Director to guarantee payment of the principal and interest on loans made to eligible entities and award competitive matching grants to: (1) implement local health information infrastructure to facilitate the development of interoperability across health care settings; or (2) facilitate the purchase and adoption of health information technology.
 
Requires the Secretary, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish uniform health care quality measures and public reporting requirements across all federally supported health delivery programs. Sets forth time lines for the development of such measures.
 
Requires the Secretary to provide for the collection of demographic data across Federal programs.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2004-07-21
text: Introduced in Senate