Jon L. Christensen: “I thank Mr. Stark for yielding. Mr. Chairman, there is no doubt that health information technology, or HIT, holds great…”

“I thank Mr. Stark for yielding. Mr. Chairman, there is no doubt that health information technology, or HIT, holds great promise in helping us solve some of our most pressing health care issues, such as reducing escalating health care costs and medical errors. Yesterday I appeared before the Rules Committee to request that an amendment to H.R. 4157 be made in order which would ensure that HIT monitor and measure the racial, ethnic and geographic health disparities. The amendment, like others, was not accepted, and the committee lost an opportunity to make this bill better, to improve the health of millions of hard-working Americans who it is proven are discriminated against in health care and further reduce the health care costs caused by disparities. Disparities that cause, for example, the maternal mortality rate for African American women to be almost five times higher than that for their white counterparts; or the infant mortality rate in African Americans and American Indian/Alaska Natives to be more than two times higher; or although they account for just one-quarter of the total U.S. population, for Latino and African Americans to account for more than two-thirds of newly reported AIDS patients. A recent IOM report noted that anywhere from 44,000 to 98,000 deaths were caused each year by medical errors, but another report by former Surgeon General Dr.…”