President Barack Obama took his health reform cause to a higher level Wednesday night in an address to a joint session of Congress.
It's rare for a president to address a joint session of Congress, aside from the annual state of the union speech, but Obama has felt that the hotly debated healthcare reform issue merits the attention.
Obama has long supported healthcare IT as a foundation for change. Preventive treatment, best practices and fraud prevention--all part of his reform plan--rely on healthcare IT.
In his speech, he highlighted healthcare facilities such as Intermountain Healthcare in Utah and the Geisinger Health System in rural Pennsylvania – both of which, he said, offer high-quality care at costs below average. Both facilities have been committed to health IT adoption and use for decades.
Obama said healthcare reform is fundamental to saving the American economy. "Our collective failure to meet this challenge – year after year, decade after decade – has led us to the breaking point," he said.
Four of five Congressional committees assigned to draft a health reform bill have completed their work, with the Senate Finance Committee announcing Wednesday they are nearing completion of their bill.
"Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses, hospitals, seniors' groups and even drug companies – many of whom opposed reform in the past," Obama said. "And there is agreement in this chamber on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been."
The president's speech drew praise from a number of analysts and healthcare experts.
"It was encouraging to see the president's commitments to efficiency, effectiveness and innovation while reducing waste and fraud in our healthcare system," said Justin T. Barnes, vice president of marketing and government affairs at Greenway Medical Technologies and chairman of the Electronic Health Record Association.
"Healthcare reform can't even exist without a health IT foundation," he said. "No matter what direction you go in health reform you have to go with health IT."
Barnes, who works closely on Capitol Hill and with the administration, said Obama has consistently advocated healthcare IT. "He personally ensured the health IT adoption incentives stayed in the stimulus package because he knew that health IT is the essential framework needed to support any healthcare reform that truly could slow the growth of costs, increase access while creating better outcomes, increasing care quality and saving lives," he said.
Thomas M. Leary, senior director of federal affairs at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society said, "President Obama's speech reinforces the necessity for the adoption and meaningful use of healthcare IT solutions outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment and Act, and emphasizes the essential role interoperable tools will have in ensuring the quality, access, and cost effectiveness improvements the president is seeking."
