The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Better Health Information System Act of 2006 (H.R. 4157) late yesterday afternoon in a vote of 270-148, with 14 members not voting.
The legislation must now be reconciled with a similar bill (S. 1952), the Critical Access to Health Information Technology Act of 2005, which was passed by the Senate last year.
The House bill contains a provision (Part D, Section 5) that would set a new deadline for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to complete conversion of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) from the currently used 9th revision to the 10th revision. The former deadline was October 2009; the bill would extend the deadline until October 2010.
In addition to the ICD-10 provisions, the bill also would create safe harbors (Part D, Section 3) for the provision of healthcare IT and services to healthcare professionals. This was done to allow healthcare entities to assist physicians with some IT investments without violating federal self-referral and antikickback legislation.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
July 28, 2006
Related Reading
Share of U.S. doctors using digital records up a bit, July 24, 2006
Practices that embrace EHR security regulations inspire patient confidence, July 14, 2006
Health IT bill moves forward in U.S. Congress, May 25, 2006
U.S. Senate committee moves on health information technology, July 21, 2005
U.S. officials caution Congress to go slow on health information technology, July 1, 2005
Copyright © 2006 AuntMinnie.com
