This report originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of DOTmed Business News

Congressman Roy Blunt (R-MO) has introduced H.R. 3987, a bill intended to lower health care costs and improve quality of care for patients through enhanced health information technology. Blunt's plan would allow providers such as hospitals and group practices to supply physicians with products or services used for health information technology.

Blunt says this will help physicians improve medical record keeping; increase access to health care by reducing paperwork and speeding accurate communication, offer quick access to lab and test results, and ensure patient diagnosis and treatments are delivered more quickly and more accurately. The plan will offer a safe harbor to anti-kickback civil penalties and criminal penalties, and an exception to the limitation on certain physician referrals under the Stark laws for the provision of HIT and training services to health care professionals. The HIT will include hardware, software, licenses, intellectual property, equipment, or other information technology designed or provided primarily for the electronic creation, maintenance or exchange of health information.
"You can drive up to any gas station in the country, and they can immediately figure more out about your car than a doctor knows about a patient," Blunt said in a press release on his web site. "A straightforward way to lower health care costs is by increasing the use of health information technology. Health IT will help doctors and health care providers share information about a patient's history and prevent duplicative testing and other expensive, unnecessary medical mistakes."

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