Legislation

As HMT went to press, the Health Information and Management Systems Society was pressing legislators for action on the Patient Safety Improvement Act before the end of the 2002 legislative session. Introduced this summer, the bill (HR4889) aims to reduce medication errors by protecting healthcare providers when reporting errors in their organizations. It was approved out of House committees in September, but awaited full House action. The act would also establish a medical information technology advisory board, appointed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. That board would submit regular reports to Congress, recommend industry best practices in healthcare IT, and establish voluntary standards for computer interoperability.