Wired for Health Care Quality Act

On April 2, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Michael Enzi (R-WY), joined with Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Inc.; Chairman, Business Roundtable Health & Retirement Task Force and Ronald A. Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aetna Inc. to call for prompt passage of the “Wired for Health Care Quality Act,” which would spur adoption of a nationwide interoperable health information technology (IT) system. Widespread application of health IT could produce annual efficiency savings of about $81 billion, with improved health outcomes bringing the total annual savings to $165 billion — enough to provide basic health coverage for more than three-fourths of the estimated 47 million uninsured Americans. Money aside, as many as 98000 people die each year from medical errors that could be prevented with health IT.