Obama launches national campaign to sell health reform, health IT

By Chelsey Ledue

WASHINGTON – After signing the healthcare reform bill into law on March 23, President Barack Obama traveled to Iowa and Maine to promote his vision, which includes the role of healthcare IT in saving lives and cutting cost.

Obama visited Iowa City, Iowa on March 25 and Portland, Maine on April 1.

At the Maine rally, Obama said passage of the healthcare reform law is a reminder that the country has the power to shape its own destiny.

“It has reminded us that we, as a people, do not shrink from a challenge,” he said. “We overcome it.”

Obama has had a history of supporting healthcare IT advancement, which includes a call for every American to have an electronic health record by 2014. The president requested $110 million in his budget this year, to strengthen healthcare IT policy coordination and research activities.

Last year, the administration backed more than $20 billion over 10 years to advance healthcare IT adoption in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

At the president’s rally in Portland, Maine Gov. John Baldacci touted healthcare IT as the means for improving quality of care, noting that Maine has been an early leader in the adoption of medical technology.

Information technology “plays a huge role” in medical reform, Baldacci told Healthcare IT News. “A huge role. It’s going to be through medical information technology that you’re going to enhance the ability of the providers to give quality care but also do it in a way that will reduce costs. It’s a critical element that needs to be part of this.”

David Howes, a physician and CEO of Portland, Maine-based Martin’s Point Health Care, said the reform law is “an enormous step forward.”

“The bill builds support for primary care and EHRs,” Howes said. “It contains flexibility and support for new models of care and Medicare quality and effectiveness measures. It is an enormous step forward for the American people and businesses.”

“I think it’s an opportunity for the president to help market the good parts of the bill,” said Gordon H. Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association, prior to the president’s visit. “I think it’s a battle for the hearts and minds of the public.”

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