The Honorable Harry Reid
U.S. Senate
528 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001
Dear Majority Leader Reid:
On behalf of Business Roundtable, I write in support of legislation to promote the adoption of e-prescribing, electronic health records and other health information technologies by all physicians in the Medicare program in order to reduce medical errors, improve patient safety and advance the quality of health care.
Business Roundtable is an association of 160 chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with over $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value in the U.S. stock market and represent over forty percent of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Counting employees and their families, Business Roundtable companies provide health coverage for approximately 35 million Americans.
In 2000, Business Roundtable founded The Leapfrog Group whose aim is to use its members’ collective purchasing leverage to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of health care for Americans. Leapfrog Hospital Rewards Program encourages specific efforts that can be implemented to reduce medical errors and improve the quality of the services offered. One specific effort adopted by Leapfrog is to encourage the use of electronic prescribing and other computer-assisted physician order entry systems. One study estimates that if e-prescribing alone were adopted, 567,000 serious medication errors could be avoided.
Consequently, we urge Congress to enact legislation that expands the use of e-prescribing, electronic health records and other health information technologies. For example, Congress should consider what incentives and authority is necessary to achieve uniform adoption of these technologies by physicians and other providers who care for Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, Congress should evaluate what additional tax and financial incentives may be necessary to promote adoption.
The goal of these efforts should be to encourage adoption of e-prescribing and other health information systems as part of a strategy to improve both patient safety and the quality of care.
We are proud of the strides we have made in the private marketplace to advance important patient safety and quality improvements. However, there are times when public-private partnerships can further expedite these necessary improvements as part of a strategy to control costs, and improve patient safety and the quality of care.
Sincerely,
John J. Castellani