A View from the Field

One of the pleasures of my role as HIMSS Vice President of Government Relations is visiting one or more of our 50 HIMSS chapters each year to see what folks outside the Capitol Beltway are thinking about current federal health IT policy topics.

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Colorado HIMSS Chapter in Denver, led by Chapter President Tamara Havenhill-Jacobs. This chapter currently has close to 650 members and is growing rapidly under the direction of Chapter Membership Chair Sarah Sample-Reif. Colorado HIMSS “is on fire” and its members’ enthusiasm is evidenced by the 70+ attendees who gathered last month to learn about HIMSS tools and resources.

In talking with Chapter members at the networking reception, I had a chance to understand some of the dynamics about what is occurring in Colorado. I learned that like many states, Colorado has its share of interesting elections coming up on November 2nd. The state appears to be very progressive when it comes to health IT, but there is some concern over the recent call in the Republican Party’s A Pledge to America to rescind all unobligated balances from the Economic Stimulus or ARRA legislation.

Over and over, I am asked if I think that ARRA stimulus funds will be rescinded.

First, I think that there is a great deal of frustration in our nation over the inability to find common ground for the good of our nation. This lack of common ground has lead to a very partisan divide that has spread to how to transform healthcare using IT.

HIMSS’ pledge has been to keep working to at least maintain a bipartisan tone to the debate, and making sure that decision leaders have the facts necessary to make key decisions.

Do I think that ARRA health IT dollars will be rescinded? No.

Do I think that this discussion is hurting the current state of transformation? Yes.

The only way we can overcome the current roadblocks is for Democrats, Republicans, Tea Party Activists and others to realize that this current opportunity to transform healthcare using IT may not come again, and we need to ensure that the focus stays on patient safety and quality of care, and away from the partisan squabbles.

You can make a difference and I urge you to vote on November 2nd.

In the meantime, what do you think about the current state of political bickering in our nation? Do you think it is hurting the healthcare IT transformation movement?