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August 25, 2008 ... The Legislature’s principal health policymaker, today, praised the Democratic Party’s National Platform on Health Care. Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, said the party’s position on health reform, especially its emphasis on health information technology, follows efforts already established in Massachusetts. 

Sen. Moore, a major architect of the landmark Massachusetts Health Reform law as well as the newly enacted Health Quality Improvement and Cost Containment bill, is a leading national advocate of expanded use of health information technology to improve quality and safety, as well as curb rising costs of care. 

The veteran Massachusetts lawmaker noted that the Democratic Party has recently added a provision calling for widespread health IT adoption to its official health care platform. “As we all struggle to afford the increasing cost of health care, Massachusetts has demonstrated that use of health information technology will help to provide the highest quality, most cost-effective care,” Moore stated. 

The health care quality and cost bill signed by Governor Deval Patrick earlier this month, establishes a goal of statewide adoption of electronic health records by 2015 and adoption by hospitals of computerized physician order entry of test information and prescriptions by 2012. The bill provides an initial $25 million to provide grants and loans to community hospitals, health centers, and small physician practices to help with the cost of implementation. A new eHealth Institute was also created to establish standards and award the funding.

The Democratic National Platform committee for the national convention this week in Denver said that widespread health IT adoption would save the average family up to $2,500 annually by increasing efficiency and reducing duplication of medical services. 

"These efforts (to reform health care in America) include driving adoption of state-of-the-art health information technology systems, privacy-protected electronic medical records, reimbursement incentives and a comparative-effectiveness institute”, the Committee said in a statement. 

Both presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D, IL) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D, NY), whose name will be placed in nomination at the convention, support health IT adoption. 

Sen. Moore noted that the Democratic National Platform committee's health reform plan also calls for other priorities that are already part of Massachusetts law:

“It’s likely that much of the Democratic National Platform Committee’s focus on expanding health information technology is based on recommendations of the National Governors Association’s (NGA) State eHealth Alliance,” Sen. Moore opined. “The NGA, as well as my own National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), both recently called for widespread implementation of electronic prescribing to reduce medication errors and cost.

Sen. Moore is an active member of the NGA’s State eHealth Alliance and chairs the NCSL’s Health Information Technology Champions (HITCh) Project, and successfully led efforts to put the nation’s 7,300 state legislators on record in support of expanded e-prescribing. Massachusetts, for the second consecutive year, has been first in the nation in e-prescribing based on the percent of prescriptions written electronically. Neighboring Rhode Island is ranked second.

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