Business Roundtable is an association of 160 chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $5 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Collectively, BRT companies returned $114 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2006.
The goal of Business Roundtable’s public policy priorities is to ensure a vibrant economy and a competitive workforce. High health care costs are inhibiting job creation, hurting our ability to compete in global markets and straining the household incomes of many Americans. For Business Roundtable CEOs, health care costs are the number one cost pressure they face.
Business Roundtable companies provide health care coverage to nearly 35 million Americans. We believe an affordable, accessible, high-quality health care system is of critical importance not only to Roundtable companies but to all Americans. Health information technology (HIT) is an essential component of a high quality 21st century health care system that would promote efficiencies, reduce errors and provide the technological platform to assess the quality and value of health care.
To advance our health system, the health care industry needs to invest in and deploy HIT, but they need to know that the rules won't change - so Congress must act. Four things must be done at the federal level:
- Establish federal leadership for a public-private process to set standards;
- Offer financial incentives to encourage the adoption of HIT;
- Educate Americans on the value of electronic health records and information on the quality of providers; and
- Address privacy and security questions as the system is deployed.
Our health care system is one of the few segments of the American economy that has not been transformed by modern, efficient information technology. This is not just inconvenient – it is costly and, in some cases, even lethal. An estimated 98,000 people die each year from medical errors, many of which might have been prevented with accurate and up-to-date electronic records. The RAND Corporation believes that widespread adoption of HIT has the potential to save as much as $165 billion a year from efficiencies and improved health outcomes. When widely implemented, HIT will deliver a whole new dimension of choice, convenience and control to America’s health care consumer. Patients will be able to access their medical histories, underserved communities in rural areas and inner cities will enjoy greater access to health care, adult children will be better able to care for their aging parents from far away, and doctors will be able to better treat and monitor their patients.
We understand that the Committee is interested in investing in HIT to improve America’s health. We strongly support this endeavor and believe that HIT would provide the critical foundation for reforms that improve health and efficiencies, reduce errors, and empower patients and their providers to assess their health care alternatives.
Last September, BRT released our plan, Health Care Reform in America, which includes the principle that greater consumer value should be created in the health care marketplace. Specifically, we support the adoption of uniform, interoperable health information technology standards; the dissemination of consumer information on the cost and quality of health care and comparison of the effectiveness of health care services and supplies; and payment reforms that reward value of services provided, rather than the volume of care delivered. We support phasing in changes to the federal law to permit differentiated payment based upon quality, efficiency, outcomes and the use of current health information technology.
HIT legislation was our number one priority for 2008. We worked with congressional leaders on HIT legislation, including Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi on the Senate’s bipartisan Wired for Health Care Quality Act, S. 1693, as well as HIT legislation in the House.
Business Roundtable CEOs have joined in a “Call to Action” with AARP, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) to engage the American people, businesses, non-profit organizations and elected officials in finding bipartisan solutions like HIT to ensure access to affordable, quality health care for all. Congress, the Administration, the health care industry and the public are united behind HIT.
President-elect Obama has proposed a stimulus package that would create more than 200,000 jobs in health care, particularly by creating a nationwide HIT system. HIT legislation would establish the foundation in law that is required for the widespread deployment of HIT - to promptly identify and adopt standards and to address key privacy and funding issues. With this foundation, the adoption of HIT would be accelerated and our U.S. health care system would become more efficient and effective which would benefit all Americans.
Congress has the opportunity to take a big first step toward the goal of an affordable, accessible, high-quality 21st century health care system. We urge Congress to pass HIT legislation that can be signed into law as soon as possible so our health care system can be transformed and modernized to improve the health of all Americans.