Many healthcare leaders have a positive eye toward President-elect Barack Obama's nomination of former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) to be the next Department of Health and Human Services Secretary.
They'll urge Daschle, if he is confirmed, to focus on healthcare IT as a pivotal part of cutting costs and increasing efficiency in any U.S healthcare transformation plan.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the founder of the Center for Health Transformation, said Daschle has long been committed to reforming healthcare to include greater transparency, paying for quality care and a fully electronic health system - ideas that the Center for Health Transformation has been championing for many years.
"Health-based health reform should encourage and incentivize the adoption of best practices that save lives and save money. It should call for every American to have an electronic health record by December 2012. We should implement systems that can detect, eliminate and prevent healthcare fraud. And we should change the way we invest and budget federal dollars so we can score long-term savings," Gingrich said. "This vision is bold. But if this administration is serious about creating a paperless health system, it must be done."
John Halamka, MD, chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said Daschle has a deep understanding of the need to increase the value of healthcare in this country by reducing costs and enhancing quality.
"He's also been a strong advocate of ensuring access to healthcare for all," Halamka said. "I believe the increased use of interoperable healthcare information technologies will help the new administration achieve these goals."
Steve Lieber, president and CEO of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), said Daschle's book, Critical: What We Can Do About The Health-Care Crisis, is an indicator of his commitment to healthcare and health IT.
"HIMSS believes Senator Daschle understands critical healthcare issues and how IT can be leveraged to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care," Lieber said.
Lieber said HIMSS would work closely with Daschle on securing additional funding for healthcare information technology as well as continuing current healthcare IT initiatives.
Since news broke of Daschle's nomination on November 19, stakeholders for the most part have expressed faith in Daschle's ability to advance healthcare transformation.
Tom Nickels, senior vice president of federal relations at the American Hospital Association, said, "Senator Daschle brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to HHS, and has a proven track record of building bipartisan consensus on some of our nation's most difficult challenges."
But not everyone has a positive outlook. Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care, said her organization fears Daschle will allow government officials to have online access to all patient records for ongoing surveillance, government research and monitoring of physician treatment decisions.
"If Mr. Daschle succeeds, Americans can expect that all private medical decisions - and their doctors - could soon be under federal control," she said. "This is not the kind of change American patients want in healthcare."