WASHINGTON – Look for a vote on a healthcare IT bill in the House of Representatives as early as the third week of June, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) said Wednesday.

Delivering a keynote address to the HIMSS Summit, Kennedy said it’s likely that H.R. 4157 could reach the floor along with several other medical-related bills in a span of time that GOP House leaders have dubbed “Health Week.”

The Senate has already passed its own bill, S. 1418, also known as the “Wired for Health Care Quality Act.” The legislation comes at a critical time, the seven-term senator said.

“The United States is lagging behind,” Kennedy complained. In other industrialized countries, such as Great Britain, Australia and Canada, healthcare IT investments are seen as a priority. But the United States considers it as an extra – and an expensive one at that. “The vision for our future should be a healthcare system where accurate information is instantly available to patients and their doctors,” he said.

That vision could move nearer to reality soon.

“Health Week is supposed to take place in the house in the third week of June,” Kennedy said. He said there remained “lots of disagreements” over the exact content of the legislation and noted that there were several competing measures before Congress, but he told a large audience that the problems were not insurmountable. “We’re at a very critical time – we’re right on the cusp.”

Policy experts believe that if Congress passes a bill, President Bush’s signature is all but a foregone conclusion. Former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David J. Brailer, MD, noted earlier Wednesday that Bush has yet to veto a single piece of legislation during his tenure. And what’s more, he added, Bush has specifically called for Congress to send him such a bill.

Kennedy is equally bullish on the prospects for passage, but urged HIMSS Summit attendees to step up the pressure on their representatives.

“We’ll all meet in the Rose Garden,” he said, and then added, “I don’t know that I’ll be invited, but you will.”

Brailer said in an interview with industry reporters that he believed a healthcare IT bill would also pass prior to the November elections.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), sponsor of one healthcare IT bill in the House, agreed with that assessment. “The key in Washington, D.C. is to get people to work together,” he said. “This isn’t a partisan issue. This is about saving lives.”