According to a senior policy advisor for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), this year's top Democrat healthcare agenda includes "major" expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, increased pay for physicians, and legislation to allow stem cell research.
At a national healthcare IT advocacy day held May 15 in Washington, D.C., and sponsored by the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and 27 other organizations, Wendell Primus, Pelosi's senior policy advisor, said Pelosi and her supporters would like to see the value of healthcare in the U.S. improved through the use of:
• Comparative effectiveness of devices and drugs to inform doctors of new and better methods of treatment
• Physician incentives to control costs and improve quality of care
• Changes in American habits to include prevention of chronic diseases
• Healthcare information technology
Ned McCulloch, governmental programs executive for IBM, who also spoke at the HIMSS advocacy day, said healthcare IT could be the driver that transforms U.S. healthcare and helps to save the 100,000 lives lost each year to medical errors.
More than 250 people attended the HIMSS event, canvassing Capitol Hill to speak with more than 40 members of Congress. HIMSS is requesting that Congress mandate $165 million toward healthcare IT advancement. It is also pushing for Congress to make the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT permanent and is opposed to legislation that mandates fixed, universal patient-to-nurse ratios.
The HIMSS position against fixed universal ratios drew mixed responses from the audience, some feeling uncomfortable with asking Congress to oppose the ratios.
Maggie Lohnes, a nurse on the HIMSS Legislation Review Task Force, defended the push against fixed ratios, saying that such a mandate would not take into account flex time and the use of healthcare IT, which she said can often reduce the need for nurses.
Lohnes cited the California law that mandates hospitals to close beds if they do not have the nurses required by law to continue operation. In such cases, the hospital must contact the state for permission to operate on an emergency basis, Lohnes said. "This happens so often it makes the law worthless," she said.