Health IT bills stall in Congress

Disagreement over technology donations to physicians and diagnostic code set updates are major hang-ups.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. Oct. 23/30, 2006.

Washington -- Health information technology legislation that was once on the fast track is now in peril on Capitol Hill, bogged down by disagreements over several issues that directly affect physicians.

The Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2006 received House approval in July. Since then, lawmakers have tried to build consensus between the measure and the Wired for Health Care Quality Act, a significantly different version of the legislation that passed the Senate last year.

But negotiators have not made much progress, say congressional staffers and lobbyists familiar with the bills. A compromise measure that Republican leaders hoped would be one of their most significant health reform accomplishments for the year now sits in limbo. Congress recessed for the midterm elections without coming to an agreement on the legislation.

One issue that has proved difficult to reconcile centers on provisions in the House bill that would let hospitals and other entities donate health IT to physicians without running afoul of federal self-referral prohibitions. Senators from both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about implementing such broad exceptions to the Stark laws. They fear that such a move could lead to fraud and abuse if hospitals make donations purely in a bid to secure patient referrals.

"That has been the major stumbling block in this debate," said Robert Tennant, senior policy adviser for the Medical Group Management Assn., which along with the American Medical Association supports the safe harbors in the House bill. The Senate version does not include Stark law exceptions.