The House Energy and Commerce Committee was hot on health care last week. The committee approved 11 health-related measures that they are now pushing to move through Congress. Committee members Monday unveiled a bill designed to increase adoption of HIT among providers over the next decade.  The legislation would incentivize adoption of HIT and penalize those who don’t take advantage of it. 

Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, meanwhile is pressing for physician transparency on pricing to prevent providers from “gouging” patients for their services.

And, House Ways and Means Health Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) floated his own HIT bill this week. He would similarly provide big payment incentives for those who invest (or have invested) in “accredited” EMRs (a government entity would be assigned to accredit products that would meet certain standards and be interoperable with all other accredited products). The incentives would taper down over five years and then become payment disincentives or reductions thereafter.