Bush plan to advance healthcare IT makes progress

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WASHINGTON – Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt announced today that more than 100 companies have signed up to participate in the Administration’s plan to advance healthcare through the use of information technology.

At a November 17 summit, Leavitt predicted “scores” of companies would participate by December 2006 in an initiative designed to make healthcare quality and costs transparent to the U.S. public. So far, hundreds of companies and states have signed up, according to an HHS statement released today.

The companies include General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Daimler Chrysler, IBM, Xerox, Starbucks, Aetna, Humana Inc., General Mills, and Dow Chemical Company.

"I am proud of the substantial progress we have made in the past month,” Leavitt said. “More than one hundred companies have committed to helping their employees get better care and better value from their health care."

The initiative is part of the Administration’s plan to create value-driven healthcare, allowing consumers to choose providers based on information about the quality and care they provide. For the initiative to work, care outcome and pricing information must be gathered and transmitted via healthcare IT systems.

By executive order last August, President Bush will require federal healthcare programs such as Medicare, the Veterans Affairs health system, the Federal Employees Health Benefit
Program, and certain other federal health care programs to lead the way in four key elements, or cornerstones, of improvement to the healthcare system. The president’s plan would combine these federal efforts with voluntary compliance from the private sector to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

“Employers are the largest source of health coverage for Americans,” HHS officials said. “If a significant number of employers also commit to the four goals, common standards for health IT, quality measurement and cost reporting would quickly become the standard throughout the health care system.”

According to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, his state is proud to be a partner in the president’s effort. “Ensuring that consumers have the information necessary to make informed decisions about their healthcare is critical to improving quality as well as lowering healthcare inflation,” he said.

The four cornerstones of the president’s transparency plan include:

•    Adopting healthcare IT standards
•    Reporting quality of care
•    Providing costs of health services in advance to patients
•    Providing incentives for quality care at competitive prices

HHS projects that 60% of the industry will have adopted the four cornerstones by spring 2008.