HIMSS of Delaware Valley and Western Pennsylvania Invited to Testify After HIMSS Members Visit PA Legislators in Harrisburg
This post originally appeared on the PAeHI blog.
HARRISBURG (April 20, 2010)–After a full day series of meetings between 50 Pennsylvania state legislators and HIMSS members from Western Pennsylvania (WPHIMSS) and Delaware Valley (DVHIMSS) chapters in the Pennslvania Capitol Building, DVHIMSS Chapter President Tom Pacek was invited to speak at the April 22, 2010 House Insurance Committee public hearing about Health IT and Electronic Health Records in Ambler, PA.
The public hearing will review legislation authored by State Rep. Rick Taylor of Montgomery, titled the Health Information Technology Act (H.B. 2106). The bill would direct a portion of Pennsylvania’s HITECH funds to develop a database of electronic medical records in the state.
In the morning, Pennsylvania Senators Mike Folmer, Patricia Vance, Andrew Dinniman, Vincent Hughes, and John Wozniak participated in active discussions with HIMSS members in Senate offices.
The Senate meetings were followed by meetings with Pennsylvania Representatives Stan Taylor, Mike Turzai, Matt Baker, Josh Shapiro, Frank Oliver, and Mike Sturla in House offices with HIMSS members to learn more about Health IT needs and legislative requirements in Pennsylvania.
The day started with HIMSS delegates networking and speaking in small groups with 40 legislators over casual breakfasts in Conference Room 60 in the Capitol complex.
In addition to their support for quality medical care, general legislators were concerned about the financial sustainability of Health Information Exchange setups, as well as privacy and security issues.
Meetings were followed by lunch at the Harrisburg Country Club, with HIMSS members, sponsors, and Philip W. Magistro, Deputy Director, Implementation from the Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform; and David Toth from Represenative Taylor’s office. The session reviewed the morning meetings, a culmination of Advocacy events planned by the two chapters leading up to today, and looked ahead to next steps with comments from Magistro and Toth.
The Health Insurance Committee hearing is open to the public and will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 22 at the Ambler Theater, located on 108 E. Butler Ave. in Ambler. Pacek and one or two other HIMSS members are expected to testify.
Today’s sessions were part of The Third Annual PA Healthcare IT Advocacy Event co-sponsored by DVHIMSS and WPHIMSS, whose Chapter president is Bonnie B. Anton, RN, MN. Additional organizers of this well-organized event will be named in a later version of this post.
Link to the Advocacy talking points “Better Care Through Information Technology” (pdf).
DVHIMSS Web site: http://dvhimss.org
WPHIMSS Web site: http://www.wpahimss.org
