June 1, 2007

Health IT Bill Introduced

Recognizing the need to spark adoption of information technology in the health care workplace, a new bill in Congress would help exactly along those lines with tax incentives.

• Rep. Phil Gingrey of Georgia has reintroduced legislation in this Congress that would advance HIT adoption.
   
• The former OB/GYN doctor understands:  The front-line health practitioner represents the point at which HIT would do much good.  It's also the hardest place to get the most adoption of innovation – oftentimes for financial reasons.

Dr. Gingrey's bill could provide the right boost to practitioners to buy solutions like electronic health records or e-prescribing devices. That sort of adoption could translate into savings within the health care system.

• The Congressman cited a RAND study.  It estimates the savings from health IT at $162 billion a year.
   
• "But if a doctor can't afford it, patients can't benefit from it," Dr. Gingrey said.
   
• H.R. 2377's approach would write into the tax code provisions to offset the initial costs of high technology, which are expensive.
   
• The Gingrey bill would more than double the tax deduction for purchasing health IT.  Health care professionals could deduct up to $250,000 the first year on their capital equipment depreciation schedule.
   
• The maximum for deductible purchase totals would rise by 50 percent to $600,000 a year.  This would enable practitioners to couple IT purchases with other expensive medical equipment acquired in the same year. That way, they don't have to choose between buying one or the other items.

Health IT could speed quality improvement and heighten patient safety. It could save health care dollars and achieve greater efficiency in health care delivery and management. The key lies in making its adoption easier.  As the Gingrey bill indicates, affordability is an important factor that limits faster adoption throughout the health care system.  Tax incentives as included in this bill would go a long way toward spurring HIT's pick-up and achieving its promise.