This is good news and the bill goes to the Senate next. This is half the battle on getting funds and a budget to help hospitals and doctors with electronic medical records. Pretty quick action after only 8 days in office for the President. 
Hopefully success will be had in the Senate as well. We also need one big massive training effort soon to help both clinicians and consumers understand the value of both PHRs and EHRS and a little bit about how they work and benefit. Nice this was passed on “privacy day”. BD
The Democratic-controlled House approved an $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration's plan to revive a badly ailing economy, including more than $80 billion for state Medicaid budgets and more than $20 billion to help doctors and hospitals adopt health information technology.
The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama’s pleas for bipartisan support.
Included is money for traditional job-creating programs such as highway construction and mass transit projects. But the measure tickets far more for unemployment benefits, healthcare and food stamp increases designed to aid victims of the economic downturn.
House passes stimulus bill - Modern Healthcare
Related Reading:
President-Elect Urges Electronic Medical Records – comments by Dr. Bill Crounse of Microsoft
There’s No Good Reason to Delay Data Liquidity and Information Sharing in Healthcare..
Microsoft Interview on Fox following the Senate Health IT Testimonies
Investing in Health IT: US Senate Testimonies
Stimulus bill moves us closer to nationalized health care and rationing
ReplyDeleteThe House of Representatives approved an $819 billion economic stimulus package Wednesday. The party line vote was a blow to Barack Obama's alleged desire for bipartisanship. All the Republicans and 11 democrats voted against the bill. One thing in the bill that went mostly unnoticed was a new bureaucracy called the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research.