The bill’s particular importance is the replacement of a scheduled 10% cut in physician Medicare payments with a 0.5% increase, and continued funding of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
But Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt two weeks ago sent congressional leaders a letter that laid out several conditions, including mandated I.T. use, for the bill to be signed. That included conditioning receipt of a portion of any Medicare fee adjustment to adoption of certified electronic health information technology. “Physicians who do not adopt appropriate, available technology should receive a lower payment than those who do,” Leavitt told lawmakers.”
Talk of I.T. mandates, particularly by Leavitt, is a dramatic turnaround in philosophy for the Bush administration. On his Weblog in November, Leavitt endorsed mandated electronic prescribing for Medicare and beyond, indicating he had lost patience waiting for physicians to adopt the technology on their own.
Also in November, the American Health Information Community, an HHS advisory body that Leavitt chairs, announced it would recommend that Leavitt seek congressional authority to mandate e-prescribing in the Medicare program.
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