Travis Leonardi .com

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama submitted on Monday a $3.8 trillion federal budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2011. The president said he plans to make healthcare reform – and healthcare IT in particular – a major part of his long-term plans to put America back on track financially.

In keeping with the president’s past support of healthcare IT advancement, this year’s fiscal budget request includes $110 million to strengthen healthcare IT policy coordination and research activities.

Last February, the Administration backed more than $20.6 billion over 10 years to advance healthcare IT adoption in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)  Click here

SFC bill appears to be in trouble in its current form.  Despite the fact that CBO has scored it as the cheapest bill to be considered so far there seems to be little support.

Google Health puts ‘living wills’ online July 16, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

ALEXANDRIA, VA – A partnership between Google Health and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Caring Connections provides a way to store and access a patient’s advanced directives online.

The “living will” feature on Google Health enables users to download a free, state-specific advance directive and store the scanned documents securely online. Officials say this will help overcome a common barrier in emergency healthcare situations, where it can be difficult to access a patient’s advance directive when the patient is terminally ill and no longer able to communicate. This document provides specific information to healthcare professionals and can help guide family caregivers called upon to make decisions on behalf of that person.

 (6/21, Gaouette, Johnston) reported that the arrangement “shrinks the so-called doughnut hole in Medicare’s prescription-drug program. The companies will discount as much as 50 percent of the cost of brand-name medicines, according to PhRMA, the Washington- based industry trade group that represents such drugmakers.” Click here