ONCHIT

ELTS in the News

Senator Bill Frist Speech Acknowledges ELTS, Comer, and 2005 SBA Award

Benjamin Franklin once said, "He that would fish, must venture his bait." In America, we have millions of creative women and men, and even teens, who cast their reels everyday in the hopes of catching the American dream. And fortunately, we have the most vibrant economy in the world and the Small Business Administration to help them.

This week, the Small Business Administration is hosting its annual celebration of America's entrepreneurs at the Washington Hilton. President Bush spoke to the group yesterday in recognition of their tremendous contributions.

Just how important are small business owners? These innovators create 60 to 80 percent of new jobs nationwide. They generate more than 50 percent of the gross domestic product. Small business owners are the heart of the American market place, and their contributions to jobs and productivity are its life blood. In my home state of Tennessee, over 97% of all businesses are small businesses.

Women owned businesses generate billions of dollars in revenue and employ tens of thousands of workers. Minority owned firms, the fastest growing small business sector in America, account for nearly 33,000 small businesses in Tennessee.

Elisa Comer, CEO of Eagle's Landing Transcription Service of Johnson City, TN, has been chosen this year as one of the Small Business Administration's 50 Small Business People of the Year.

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House Committee Passes HIT Bill

The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee has approved H.R. 4157, the Health Information Technology (IT) Promotion Act of 2006.

The bill will now go to a conference committee where differences between it and a Senate HIT bill introduced last year will be worked out. Following that, each chamber will vote on the reconciled bill.

H.R. 4157 would do the following:

ONCHIT — codifies the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT) and delineates its responsibilities to coordinate federal HIT efforts.
Stark/Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors — Allows entities, including hospitals and group practices, to provide physicians with hardware, software, or related services used for the electronic exchange of clinical health information.

ONCHIT Gets New Director

The well-regarded chief health informatics officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs has moved over to become the new interim national coordinator of health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Robert Kolodner, a career employee of the Veterans Health Administration who has led the development of the VA's e-medical records (EMRs) systems, becomes the second person to lead ONCHIT. For more on this story, click here.