Health IT leaders say bipartisanship will be key to moving forward post-election

Feedback continues to pour in from health IT groups and leaders in the wake of this week's election results.

Speaking at Wednesday's Health IT Policy Committee meeting, National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari said the reelection of President Obama, in conjunction with the relative status quo nature of the House and Senate election results, gives the nation "the chance to continue to make strides, continue the essential thrust of the policies and approaches" pertaining to health IT, Government Health IT reports.

"It also affirms our responsibility to do the peoples' work, to come together, Republicans and Democrats, to do the peoples' work," Mostashari said. "Progress has always been through fits and starts. It has not always been a straight line, a smooth path."

In a statement released this morning, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society expressed a similar sentiment, pointing out that prior to the election, most state and federal politicians agreed the adoption of health IT would play a major part in improving the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care.

"Historically, the implementation of health information technology to achieve more efficient healthcare has received wide bipartisan support both in Congress and in successive Republican and Democratic administrations," the statement said. "We anticipate that Congress and the Obama administration will continue their focus on health IT, as will HIMSS, in moving forward our ongoing cause to improve the delivery of healthcare with the best use of health IT and management systems."

Meanwhile, Sharon Canner, senior director of advocacy programs for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, said in an interview with Healthcare Informatics that Obama's re-election "reaffirmed" the foundation built up for IT use in healthcare. She added that, had Romney won and a move been made to take back some of the HITECH funding, he almost assuredly would have faced some opposition.

"There would have been a pushback from the healthcare industry, especially the hospitals," Canner told Healthcare Informatics.

To learn more:
- read the Government Health IT article
- here's the HIMSS statement
- check out Canner's interview