Gingrich on EHRs in the 2009 stimulus
I don’t like to get political on this blog, but I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Newt Gingrich we’ve seen on the campaign trail of late is quite different from the Newt Gingrich who was a tireless advocate for health IT and EHRs from about 2004 to 2009.
Lately, Gingrich has, as primary candidates are wont to do, been pandering toward the more ideologically pure elements of his party, not addressing the center, as will be necessary during a general election. Notably, Gingrich has jumped on the “repeal Obamacare” bandwagon, essentially making the ridiculous argument that America does not need healthcare reform. That’s interesting, because Gingrich, after he left Congress, founded the Center for Health Transformation to push for technology-enabled health system improvement.
Back in 2004, Gingrich joined with strange bedfellow Hillary Clinton to advocate for a national, government-funded strategy to support adoption of health IT. That idea eventually morphed into the HITECH Act section of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus legislation. Gingrich, like most Republicans, opposed the bulk of the stimulus, but he was an ardent supporter of HITECH. Here’s the proof:
Now, though, he seems to be running away from, or at least not mentioning, the part of health reform that gave the world “meaningful use.” Yes, HITECH is part of health reform, whether the pundits, the mainstream media and the electorate know it or not.
Lest I let the Democrats off the hook, the Obama administration continues to feed the widely believed fallacy that healthcare reform is nothing more than an expansion of insurance coverage. As I keep saying, usually to receptive ears—at least within healthcare circles—health insurance is not the same as healthcare. Having insurance does not guarantee you will get good care. It only means that somebody else will pay the bill for at least part of your care. People with “great” insurance still are subject to bureaucratic hassles, duplication of services, adverse drug events and even fatal medical errors.
Yet, listening to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius talk to the ideologically sympathetic Jon Stewart a week ago, you would think that health reform is completely about insurance coverage. Sebelius gave a lengthy interview that the Daily Show had to break into two parts, only one of which actually appeared on television. (The rest is only on the Web.) Not once did she and Stewart discuss an element of health reform other than insurance coverage. Watch for yourself.
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
Exclusive – Kathleen Sebelius Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
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The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
Exclusive – Kathleen Sebelius Extended Interview Pt. 2 | ||||
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[…] Neil Versel‘s campaign is calling out the left and the right – Kathleen Sebelius and Newt Gingrich – on healthcare reform. He points out that Gingrich has aligned himself with the far right idea of repealing the ACA and has been distancing himself from his work over the past decade that pushed for health IT reform and technology-enhanced improvements in our healthcare system. Neil also notes that Sebelius and the Obama Administration have been focusing a bit too much on the health insurance aspects of the ACA and seem to have forgotten that health insurance is not the same thing as healthcare. Simply having health insurance does not guarantee access to care, affordability of care, or that the care one will receive will be of the highest possible quality. Neil’s position ought to win him quite a bit of favor from a lot of center-minded folks. […]
[…] 2012, rather scary, given that primary season has just started, IMHO. My recent post about the two sides of GOP candidate Newt Gingrich and the reluctance of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to di… is part of this rundown. It also apparently puts me in the running for Wonkiest Health Wonk of […]
Hi John:
Actually, Gingrich has continued to be an “influence peddler” especially on behalf of his EHR vendor clients. Gingrich, the former CEO of the for-profit “Center for Health Transformation” has recently been pitching his clients in various government hearings for projects requiring major government expenditures, among them GE Healthcare, Siemens, Allscripts, and HealthTrio. The center’s project director is mentioned as testifying that the Department of Labor should ***require*** healthcare providers to use electronic medical records. Gingrich also appeared at a press conference in the Senate Office Building to promote a bill ***requiring e-prescribing***, in which at least 20 of his paying clients had a financial interest.
Gingrich is thus calling for forced eRx and MU as a part of treating patients. This is why if he were to win, I would refuse to vote for either candidate in 2012. I viscerally dislike Obama, but when it comes to HIT and healthcare I consider Gingrich worse.
URL: http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/01/26/8000/gingrichs-health-center-was-power-player-host-washington-policy-debates
BTW, John, your website really rocks!
Al
Al, thanks for your commentary. FYI, I wrote the post, not John. He hosts the site and oversees the Healthcare Scene network, and I write this blog.
I can see why they focused on the issues of coverage in a short time, but Sebelius missed two opportunities, when Stewart complained about rising insurance rates, to say briefly that they’re working on cutting the costs of health care but that it will take time.