WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman David Wu today participated in a U.S. House Science and Technology Committee hearing to examine progress toward the broad implementation of information technology (IT) in healthcare. 

"Digitizing the health care industry will improve the delivery of care in the doctor's office, will reduce the estimated 98,000 annual American deaths related to medical errors, and will decrease the nearly $300 billion spent annually on inefficient, unnecessary, and duplicative treatments," Congressman Wu said.

The hearing today addressed legislation introduced earlier this year by Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).  H.R. 2406 aims to develop healthcare information technology standards via the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal agency under Congressman Wu's jurisdiction as chair of the Technology and Innovation Subcommittee. Technical standards are needed to create a functional, interoperable, secure IT network.

"While digitizing medical information will increase efficiency, we must also address the issue of security. Patient medical records contain sensitive data which requires sufficient security measures, regardless of whether they are stored on paper or electronically. NIST must develop standards that not only address both interoperability and patient privacy and security."

H.R. 2406 and Congressman Wu's legislation (H.R. 1467) passed by the U.S. House earlier this year, together, will help move the health care industry toward adoption of information technology systems, including the use of electronic patient health records.

"Finding solutions to the technical barriers and security concerns as well as creating the workforce to implement and maintain health care information systems will help move the industry toward adoption."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that 136,000 Americans were employed as health information management professionals in 2000, and to meet the expected demand, there will need to be a 49 percent increase by 2010.

Congressman Wu's legislation helps address this problem by developing curriculum for undergraduate and master’s degree programs, as well as certificate programs, in health care informatics, and developing programs to train current medical professionals, such as physicians, nurses and medical administrators.
The legislation also invests more in research to enhance the field of health care informatics and to develop hardware and software solutions that focus on improving patient care.

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