WASHINGTON – Health IT advocates on Capitol Hill Tuesday pledged to keep pushing for  IT measures in healthcare reform and other pending legislation, despite the commitment already included in the economic stimulus package.

At a briefing, lawmakers said that even with health IT provisions in the stimulus and reform bills, they want to be sure that funding continues to be available.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), co-chair of Congress' 21st Century Health Care Caucus, said healthcare providers would continue to need support via legislation, grants, and agency guidance, especially with the logistics of applying for funding and adopting electronic health records.

"We need to really get the money out to the states and providers," he said. "(Providers) need to know what the triggers are for getting the money and how to apply for it."

Kennedy and other congressional members spoke at the opening of the annual National Health IT Week sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and other public and private sector organizations. Government Health IT magazine is owned by HIMSS.

At the briefing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), said Congress must be committed to driving the use of health IT broadly across the healthcare industry and as deeply into hospitals and physician practices that can demonstrate the benefits of increased safety and efficiency.

"We have to make sure we are not lifting all boats just a little bit," Whitehouse said. "Across all other industries, we have seen how information infrastructure works for the American consumer."

This year's Health IT Week takes place amid the turbulence of the national healthcare reform debate and at the onset of planning for health IT projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "Imagine what we could achieve for our nation's healthcare system by implementing even a few health information technology initiatives," Kennedy said.

He cited the benefit of using health IT to help bring the latest evidence-based medical information to physicians at the point of care. "Even if you live in a part of the country that does not have research resources, health IT will let them tap into the latest information, like NIH (National Institutes for Health)," Kennedy said.   

During Health IT Week, HIMSS members will visit congressional offices to press for additional funding for health IT, as well as health information exchanges and best practices in treatment, according to Barry Chaiken, MD, HIMSS board chairman and chief medical officer of DocsNetwork Ltd.

Just having an electronic health record in a physician's office does not create a comprehensive patient record, Chaiken said. The electronic health record must be able to share information with other systems to gather all the pertinent information of patient care with other providers about their treatments, he said.

"All of Congress needs to be as educated as the speakers here today are on the issues of health IT," Chaiken said.