Blumenthal signals position on key stimulus policies

Dr. David Blumenthal offered a first significant glimpse into how he views the policy choices ahead of him as he prepares to take over as national coordinator for health IT. In a perspective piece published April 9 by the New England Journal of Medicine, Blumenthal said that to carry out Congress' intentions in the recently passed health IT stimulus legislation, it will be important not to set the bar too high for providers to qualify for health IT funding. The current certification process for health IT needs tightening, he said. Congress provided $20 billion in health IT incentives in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as the means to improve the quality of health care, not as an end in itself, Blumenthal said. "Under the pressure to show results, it will be tempting to measure...the payoff from the $787 billion stimulus package in narrow terms — for example, the numbers of computers newly deployed in doctors' offices and hospital nursing stations," Blumenthal said. "But that does not seem to be Congress' intent. It wants improvements in health and health care through the use" of health IT.