WASHINGTON – With the stimulus package passed, healthcare reform looms large on Capitol Hill. President Obama, lawmakers and experts say healthcare IT is destined to play a key role.

Dave Roberts, vice president of government relations for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), said health IT will be "a critical component" of upcoming healthcare reform legislation.

If lawmakers get their way, this will be soon. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) have called on Congress to pass a comprehensive healthcare reform bill by late June, a full six months earlier than the president's target of the end of the year.

 Baucus said reform is "imperative." He also endorsed healthcare IT as a way to cut costs and align provider incentives.

Lawmakers have said one of the main goals is to find a way to increase Americans' access to healthcare coverage. Over the long term, Obama plans to pay for this, in part, by trimming healthcare costs through the use of healthcare IT. The stimulus package was a $19 billion down payment on this plan, with more healthcare IT advancement recommended in his new fiscal year 2010 budget proposal.

Though it was only an outline, with more details expected in April, Obama asked Congress for $76.8 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services. Some of the funding would come from changes to the way healthcare is provided, with a new emphasis on pay for performance for Medicare providers. Pay for performance presupposes electronic data.

At a White House summit held March 5, Obama called healthcare IT the "low hanging fruit and a good place to start building bipartisan concensus."