From today’s The Hill, “Don’t let health IT legislation flatline“:

American manufacturers have a huge stake in health IT. Working Americans face soaring healthcare costs, and employers continue to struggle to provide health benefits. Health IT has the potential to save millions of dollars for working Americans. Technology has modernized the manufacturing industry by cutting waste on the shop floor, managing inventory more effectively and speeding delivery of products. Now it’s time for Congress to apply the same cutting-edge technology that has transformed manufacturing to our nation’s healthcare system.

The life-saving, cost-reducing benefits health IT legislation can deliver to the American public make its passage imperative this year. Next year, a new administration will take office and, in the shuffle, health IT legislation could stall, forcing Americans to wait even longer.

The NAM news release from a Capitol Hill presser on Tuesday is here.

From CQ Politics, “Coalition Promises Aggressive Push to Pass Health IT Bill This Year“:

Leaders of a health information technology coalition said Tuesday they would make an aggressive push and visit the offices of every House and Senate member to urge passage of health IT legislation before Congress adjourns for the elections.

The Health IT Now coalition, whose membership includes the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Association of Manufacturers and other health care and business groups, also estimated that health IT legislation has a 50 percent chance of passage this year.

“We have to have a bill this year,” said Nancy Johnson, coalition co-chairwoman and former Republican representative from Connecticut. Johnson noted that it could take a new administration up to a year to get up to speed on health IT issues. “We can’t afford that break in this process.”

The coalition sent a letter to the Hill on Tuesday making the case for action before Congress adjourns.

The House bill (HR 6357) authorizes $560 million in grants and loans to encourage the purchase and installation of electronic systems for collecting and transmitting health records. By its nature, the bill was referred to three separate committes; only Energy & Commerce has reported it out.

UPDATE (3:25 p.m.): And the NAM’s news release urging action. NAM was represented at the news conference by Drew Greenblatt, president and owner of Marlin Steel Wire Products in Baltimore, Md.

America’s transportation infrastructure – its roads, bridges, and rails – are in crisis, former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent says. The government should make fixing the nation’s ailing infrastructure a national priority, says Talent, a guest on this week’s “America’s Business with Mike Hambrick” radio program.

Talent is an honorary chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers’ Alliance to Improve America’s Infrastructure.

“I think it’s one of the three or four things the government must do in partnership with the American people if America is going to continue to be prosperous and great in the next generation,” Talent says.

The declining U.S. housing market put a damper on the economy. But are things about to turn around? National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun will give us the scoop.

Exports have proven to be a bright spot in the economy. General Mills Chief Operating Officer Ian Friendly will tell us how his company, which makes popular foods such as Cheerios cereal, is taking advantage of free trade agreements.

Our nation would save countless lives and billions of dollars if we converted our healthcare records system from antiquated paper files to electronic ones. Jennifer Queen, the parent of a chronically ill child, will join us to tell us why health information technology legislation that would modernize the health care sector is so critical to her family and other Americans.

And “America’s Business” will make a special visit to the factory floor of Image National with company President Doug Bender. The Idaho company makes some of the electric signs that light up shopping centers across America.

In our regular segments, Renee Giachino of American Justice Partnership gives us the latest on tort reform and commentator Hank Cox recalls “The Way It Was.” And the National Association of Manufacturers President Gov. John Engler will close the program with “The Last Word.”

For more about “America’s Business with Mike Hambrick” and to listen to the program online please click here. And for video highlights and more, check out www.americasbusiness.org.

NAM President John Engler has a column in today’s Detroit Free Press, “Upgrade health care digitally.” Excerpt:

[When] it comes to the prosaic but profoundly important handling of patient records and sharing medical information, we trail the modern world. Administratively speaking, most of American health care is using 19th Century technology. The majority of doctors still write prescriptions by hand. Test results gathered with state-of-the-art technology are then stored away in paper files and transported by snail mail.

This needless lack of efficiency is costing us both lives and money.

The NAM is a member of the Health IT Now! Coalition, and last week the boss participated in a Capitol Hill event to draw attention to legislation to ease the introduction of technology into medical care. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce has introduced a draft bill to address the issues.