President Focuses on HIT at White House Summit

At Thursday's White House summit on health care reform, President Obama said health care IT is the "low hanging fruit" on health care reform and an area in which Republicans and Democrats can find common ground. The summit was designed to launch President Obama's health care reform efforts.  According to CongressDaily, health care policy stakeholders, members of Congress and eight "everyday Americans" attended the summit.

The president said that the return on health information technology (HIT) will take several years but that the technology is necessary to overhaul an inefficient health care system. Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Montana) also endorsed HIT as a way to reduce costs and align health care provider incentives.