Groups Warn Against Health IT Mandates
The heads of three high-tech industry associations sent letters late last week to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate committees currently writing healthcare legislation urging them to avoid technology mandates and ensure "broad, fair, and open competition" among health IT providers. The letter -- signed by Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman, Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield, and Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology -- outlined a set of principles "to maximize the contributions health IT can make" to improving Americans' healthcare. Read the House letter here and Senate letter here.
"There is near-universal agreement that we can deliver better care less expensively through the use of existing and new technologies. Efforts that would limit new ideas and participants ... should be opposed," they wrote. "We urge you to oppose the inclusion of any explicit or implicit technology mandates in health-related legislation that would prevent ... governments or private parties from considering and procuring the best available technologies in health care management." They said health IT systems should be interoperable; information should be portable; procurement should be inclusive; cost analysis should be comprehensive; security and privacy protections should be a high priority; and usability should be a key criterion.
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