The HIMSS 10th Annual Policy Summit held on September 14 – 15 in Washington, DC was a great success! This year, more than 220 HIMSS volunteers from 39 states and the District of Columbia joined together to discuss priority policy issues and hear from health IT leaders, including the National Coordinator for Health IT, Dr. Farzad Mostashari and a keynote speech from Congressman Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX), who shared his perspective on the importance of improving healthcare quality in the U.S.
Not only did the U.S. Senate declare “’National Health Information Technology Week’ to recognize the value of health information technology in improving health quality,” but President Barack Obama also proclaimed September 11-17, 2011 as National Health Information Technology Week. This was the sixth year of National Health IT Week, the forth Senate resolution, and the first NHIT Week presidential proclamation.
The HIMSS volunteers completed more than 400 scheduled appointments with Members of Congress and their staffs, our Georgia delegation met with the healthcare aids for Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss as well as Representatives Tom Price and Rob Woodall. The meetings highlighted the HIMSS’ 2011 Congressional Asks. The Asks are listed below along with the initial results from our visits.
Issue 1: Congress should continue its strong bipartisan support for Health Information Technology. Percentage of Congressional offices visited that:
Support: 95%; No position: 5%
Issue 2: Congress should preserve the investment being made in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Meaningful Use Incentive Program as an essential tool that is critical to the healthcare transformation process. Percentage of Congressional offices visited that: Support: 89%; Oppose: 4%; No position: 7%
Issue 3: Congress should support the development of a nationwide patient identity solution by lifting the current statutory prohibition to allow HHS to address this issue along with other health IT policy enhancements. Percentage of Congressional offices visited that: Support: 58%; Oppose: 1%; No position: 41%
The HIMSS Policy Summit was just one of many events taking place during National Health IT Week 2011. If you weren’t able to make it to Washington this year, you can still make your voice heard on Capitol Hill by taking part in HIMSS’ “Virtual Advocacy.” Please visit HIMSS’ Legislative Action Center today to send a letter to your members of Congress on the importance of nationwide adoption of EHRs and HIE, continued bipartisan Congressional support of health IT, and the importance of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program!
The Georgia HIMSS Chapter Advocacy Committee is using this visit to Capitol Hill as a kickoff for our Advocacy action plan for this year. The plan will be forthcoming on the Advocacy page of the GA HIMSS website. The objective of the plan is to accelerate our communication with our elected officials in Georgia and educate them on EHRs and the importance of transforming healthcare in our state and throughout America. We are also looking for additional Georgia HIMSS chapter members to become involved advocates for Health IT in Georgia. If you are interested please contact Dan Stewart, for more information at: dstewart@gahimss.org
HIMSS 10th Annual Policy Summit
September 14 – 15, 2012
Washington, DC
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, have been made to move the nation toward impactful healthcare reform. Advances in health information technology (HIT) and the possibility of a nationwide exchange of clinical information is putting healthcare reform and dynamic improvements in healthcare within reach. However true reform is impossible without system-wide adoption of electronic health records and nationwide health information exchange.
So now more than ever, it’s important to become better educated on health IT policy and take action that can bring about change. Across the nation, health IT stakeholders will participate in National Health IT Week, September 12-16, 2011. You have an opportunity to be directly involved by participating in HIMSS’s 10th Annual Policy Summit in Washington, DC, where you can:
• Become educated on how Congress is addressing healthcare reform
• Learn health IT policy issues and priorities
• Develop effective communication strategies when meeting with legislators
• Engage with your Members of Congress on health IT policy
• Be part of the decision-making process and have a real impact
“One Voice, One Vision.” With adequate knowledge and the right resources, we can work together to verbalize one voice with one vision: bettering our healthcare system through the use of health information technology.
For registration information go to: http://www.himss.org/policy/policysummit/index.aspx
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