A senior policy adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a conference of health IT stakeholders today to expect "a good Democratic HIT bill" early in 2009, although it remains unknown whether it will be a stand-alone measure or part of a healthcare reform omnibus. A handful of bills introduced this session "didn't really move the ball very far down the court" to health IT overhaul, said aide Wendell Primus, speaking at a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society policy forum.

Legislation aimed at creating a nationwide system of electronic medical records sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell and ranking member Joe Barton passed their panel in July, while House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Fortney (Pete) Stark, D-Calif., introduced a version last month that would use Medicare reimbursement to prod physicians and hospitals to adopt new technologies. A similar Senate bill was introduced more than a year ago by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy and ranking member Michael Enzi. Read the full story here.

Chris Dawe, a legislative aide for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also spoke to the group but requested that his comments be off-the-record. A spokeswoman for Kerry summed up his remarks saying the senator "believes that the American people and Congress understand that now more than ever, reforming our fundamentally broken health care system is a national priority." "We cannot have full economic recovery without health care reform that controls skyrocketing health costs and ensures coverage for all Americans," she said.