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About Richard M. Hodge, MBA, MPA

Richard M. Hodge, MBA, MPA, is HIMSS Senior Director, Congressional Affairs.

And Now, Supreme Court Moves On to Deliberate Fate of Healthcare Reform

Posted on March 29, 2012

On Monday, March 26th, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments on issues surrounding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), starting with the Anti-Injunction Act issue. On that issue the justices appeared … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Considers Healthcare Reform Law—How Will Its Decision Affect Health IT?

Posted on March 26, 2012

Many of us are eagerly anticipating the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which President Obama signed into law on March 23, 2010. The main issue is the ACA’s “Individual Mandate provision” (or “shared … Continue reading →

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House Proposes Major Budget Reduction for ONC

Posted on November 3, 2011

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, was budgeted at $61,257,000 in 2011, and the President’s 2012 Budget Request in February 2011 included $78,413,000 for the ONC.  The … Continue reading →

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Is It Time for an Informed Nation-wide Patient-Data Matching Solution?

Posted on May 25, 2011

Frequent mismatches between patients and clinical data are a serious and growing patient safety issue.  Incorrect information or linking the wrong clinical information to a person is a potentially deadly patient safety issue, and incurs huge additional costs to the healthcare … Continue reading →

Posted in Public Policy | 2 Comments

Florida Federal District Judge Rules Affordable Care Act Unconstitutional

Posted on February 2, 2011

On January 31, 2011, U.S. District Judge for the northern district of Florida, Roger Vinson, declared the entire Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional.  This was the latest ruling in the numerous lawsuits against the federal government in 26 states over the … Continue reading →

Posted in HIMSS Events, Public Policy | 2 Comments

H.R.408, the Spending Reduction Act of 2011 Introduced in the House of Representatives

Posted on January 31, 2011

The new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives has revealed its first attempts to begin to resolve the huge federal budget deficit.  On Jan. 24, 2011, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH/4th), Chairman of the Republican Study Group, introduced H.R. … Continue reading →

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HIMSS Insight – Dr. Donald Berwick’s Testimony

Posted on November 18, 2010

HIMSS was closely monitoring the Congressional testimony by Dr. Donald Berwick before the Senate Finance Committee on Nov. 17.  The subject was Strengthening Medicare and Medicaid: Taking Steps to Modernize America’s Health Care System.  However, this hearing was highly significant because … Continue reading →

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