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Health IT Among Top Priorities for State Lawmakers in 2012

Health IT issues will be among the top priorities for state lawmakers in  2012, according to an  annual report that the National Council of State Legislatures released on  Tuesday, Government Health IT reports (Sullivan, Government  Health IT, 1/4).

Report Details

The report lists the top 12 issues that state lawmakers will face in 2012.  One of the priority areas covers various health care issues, including the  federal health reform law, health insurance exchanges and health data exchanges  (NCSL release,  1/3).

In its discussion of the health care issues, NCSL said that health insurance  exchanges and health information exchanges will be “dominant issue[s] for  legislative sessions” (Government Health IT, 1/4).

Health Insurance Exchanges

Under the federal health reform law, states by January 2014 must create  insurance exchanges that provide coverage options for individuals and small  businesses.

States can choose to administer their own exchanges — for which they must  have some infrastructure in place by January 2013 — or ask the federal  government to run the exchanges for them (iHealthBeat,  11/2/11).

In its report, NCSL said that health benefit exchanges will be a major  priority area as states work to meet the January 2013 deadline for having some  infrastructure in place. NCSL also noted that states might face challenges in  finalizing their plans because federal officials have yet to release final rules  governing the health benefit exchanges.

Health Information Exchanges

The report also predicts that state lawmakers will prioritize efforts to  develop and improve health information exchanges that allow health care  providers to share patients’ medical data. NCSL added that promoting more  widespread adoption of electronic health records will be the first step toward  advancing health data exchange.

The report stated, “By mid-year 2012, every state should have Medicaid EHR  incentive programs in place and will be working toward building a health  information exchange by late 2014 or early 2015” (Government Health IT,  1/4).

Source: iHealthBeat

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