The healthcare reform legislative package signed into law yesterday by President Obama hinges on information technology for some of its most far-reaching changes.
The President yesterday signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, which includes IT-dependent projects that run the gamut from proposals to build state-run insurance "exchanges" to modern long-term care facilities.
Health IT is likely to play a key role in all these efforts. For example, the new law tasks the Department of Health and Human Services with creating a Web portal through which a resident in any state will be able to locate "affordable health insurance coverage options."
HHS will also help states develop and maintain Internet portals for health insurance exchanges, which will enable small businesses and people lacking employer-provided insurance to purchase coverage.
The state portals will direct people and employers to health plans and help them determine whether they are eligible to participate. A "model template" portal will be made available to the 50 state exchanges.
State Internet portals would also provide insurance seekers with quality rating information on the health plans offered through an exchange. Insurance buyers would be able to browse enrollee satisfaction information, so they can make comparisons among plans.
IT is also emphasized in programs that foster the reporting of quality measures, according to an analysis of the legislation by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
For instance, the legislation calls for HHS to develop reporting requirements for carriers offering group or individual healthcare plans. Reporting would cover programs and projects aimed at improving patient safety through health IT, as well as from best clinical practices and evidence-based medicine.
Long-term care facilities may also see IT dollars from the legislation. Under the act, HHS is authorized to issue grants to long-term care centers to defray the cost of acquiring electronic health records systems and hardware "including handheld computer technologies." The grants can also be used to upgrade software and hardware to "enable e-prescribing."
The technology scope of the legislation also encompasses IT purchasing arrangement, and IT standards.
The HIMSS overview cites establishment of "new programs that apply, among many things, health IT to test new, more effective healthcare delivery models."
One delivery model, according to the legislation, involves supporting chronically ill people "through a health information technology-enabled provider network that includes care coordinators, a chronic disease registry, and home tele-health technology."
The healthcare legislation's call for nonprofit health insurance issuers -- consumer operated and oriented plans, or CO-OPs, also involves IT. The various CO-OPs that emerge may set up a council to coordinate group purchasing of health IT and claims administration among other services.
The legislation charges HHS with developing standards and protocols to facilitate the enrollment of individuals in state and federal health and human service programs.
