Federal bill would promote health IT standards

A member of the federal House of Representatives has introduced a new bill which ask an arm of the government to develop health integration standards for the U.S. The bill, filed by U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), would authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to create guidelines and mechanisms for smoothing the HIT integration process. Gordon was spurred, in part, by a 2005 Health Affairs study which found that the health system could save $77 billion if it had a completely interoperable network in place. NIST is already looking at ways to integrate EMRs, but the bill will give the agency new authority to further this process. Perhaps even more importantly, the bill would establish an interoperable federal HIT infrastructure, tying together such disparate systems as the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Meanwhile, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced his own package of HIT bills, arguing that it's critical to coordinate health IT efforts by business and technology leaders.

To find out more about the bill:
- read this HealthDecisions.org piece
- read this iHealthBeat article

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