House- and Senate-Passed Stimulus Includes HIT, Other Health Care Provisions
Chicago —
(February 13, 2009)
The U.S. House and Senate have passed an extensive stimulus package that includes a number of health care provisions.
Of particular importance to ASA, the legislation includes nearly $20 billion in funding for health information technology (HIT) initiatives, including Medicare and Medicaid incentives to encourage doctors, hospitals and other providers to use HIT in the electronic exchange of patients’ health information. Grants would also be available to promote interoperability of clinical data repositories or registries such as ASA’s new Anesthesia Quality Institute, Inc.
Other provisions in the stimulus package include: a continuation of Medicare payments to teaching hospitals for indirect medical education (IME), rather than a reduction slated for 2009; a temporary increase to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which will help states avoid Medicaid funding cuts, with the possibility of additional assistance based upon a state’s unemployment rate; and premium subsidies for COBRA for recently unemployed workers, which is estimated to help 7 million people maintain their health insurance after losing their jobs.
President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law within days.
ASA is continuing to analyze the nearly 1,100-page legislation and will post additional information and commentary as it becomes available.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
Anesthesiologists: Physicians providing the lifeline of modern medicine. Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association with 46,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient.
For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists Web site at www.asahq.org. For patient information, visit LifeLineToModernMedicine.com
###