The House Government Reform Committee on Thursday held a hearing to consider actions that the federal government could take to help facilitate improved health care information technology standards, CongressDaily reports. Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) said that the federal agencies should adopt health care IT policies and practices to influence similar action in the private sector. In addition, Porter said that next month he plans to introduce legislation that within five years would provide federal employees with electronic health records and identification cards that contain their medical information. Meanwhile, Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) said that the use of EHRs in rural areas will require expanded access to high-speed Internet connections and recommended that lawmakers maintain the Universal Service Fund, which works to provide affordable Internet access in rural areas, as they revise the 1996 Telecommunications Act. National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Brailer added that lawmakers must ensure the existence of a skilled work force to support a national EHR network. "Small organizations do not have that. To deliver basic services in addition to health IT is a skill-based manpower issue," he said. Brailer also said that financial, cultural, legal, licensing, portability and privacy issues could serve as barriers to a national EHR network (Belopotosky, CongressDaily, 9/30).

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