Statements Of Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS OF INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - June 30, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I join several of my colleagues in introducing the Better Healthcare Through Information Technology Act. This bill represents a strong step forward in modernizing our health care system and paving the way to greater efficiency and quality in the delivery of care.

Health care costs are becoming an enormous drain on employers, employees, and the Nation as a whole. More Americans are uninsured, and premiums for health insurance are increasing at an unsustainable rate of 20, 30, and even 40 percent per year. Health care reform is needed to address the huge concerns of the American people and our Nation's businesses. Indeed, the fact that companies like GM are losing competitiveness and laying off 25,000 workers, in part due to health costs, is a strong sign that our current health care system is flawed.

Solving these challenges will require new, bold policy initiatives to make health care coverage more affordable for employers, employees, and all Americans. Comprehensive efforts at change must be considered in our approach to health care reform. As a start, there are numerous improvements that can--and should--be made to fully pull the industry into the information age with the widespread adoption of information technology. It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that many of our Nation's other systems, such as our banking systems, are decades ahead in providing a seamless national network facilitating nearly instantaneous and universal access to information. It is high time for this body to act to modernize our health system as well, for its adoption of IT systems has the promise to improve quality while simultaneously reducing cost.

There are significant barriers to the adoption of IT by health care providers, including often-prohibitive costs of capital expenditures needed for hardware and software and a lack of uniform standards for the electronic exchange of information. Systems are prohibitively expensive for many physician practices and there is no guarantee of interoperability with the system used at a local hospital, lab, or pharmacy.

The Better Healthcare Through Information Technology Act addresses many of these barriers. It codifies existing efforts by the government to spur the use of health IT. It creates a public-private collaborative to build consensus on a single set of standards. To ensure that these standards will then be embraced, our bill requires Federal procurement of information technology, and data collection by Federal agencies to comply with them.

A similar collaborative on a local scale already exists in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Quality Institute links providers, hospitals, insurers, government, businesses, and the academic community in the pursuit of improving health care quality. I commend the Rhode Island Quality Institute for its statewide efforts to make Rhode Island a true health care improvement ``learning lab,'' and I believe that the bill we are introducing today will support these and similar efforts around the country.

To do this, our legislation recognizes and aims to address the financing challenges faced by providers. The bill establishes a number of competitive grants and facilitates State loan programs that are designed to get qualified health IT systems in the hands of doctors, hospitals, and clinics. Other provisions, including modifications to Federal anti-kickback and Stark laws and the establishment of a toll-free telephone number or Web site to assist physicians, will accelerate the implementation and integration of health IT.

The combination of uniform standards, help for physicians to purchase health IT systems, and improved exchange of electronic information through a national system will ultimately move us toward a conversion to Electronic Medical Records. Records will seamlessly follow the patient and improve evidence-based medicine by allowing aggregate data to be used in the determination of best treatment practices. Decision support systems will provide doctors with the most up-to-date evidence-based recommendations available.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the use of IT offers the hope of reducing the thousands of medical errors each year that add to both unnecessary pain and suffering and the cost of health care. Computerized Physician Order Entry, or CPOE, could alone bring enormous savings to the health care system by reducing medication errors in hospitals and clinics.

Systemic errors such as these account for many of the medical errors identified by the Institute of Medicine in their seminal study on this topic that estimated up to 98,000 avoidable deaths from medical errors each year. It will take government action and investment to bring about the technological sophistication and interoperability necessary to substantially reduce the incidence of these errors.

I want to thank Senators ENZI, KENNEDY, DODD, and others for their efforts on this bill. I look forward to continuing to work with each of them and the rest of my colleagues to bring our Nation's health system into the 21st century.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

By Mr. REED:

S. 1364. A bill to amend part A of title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to enhance teacher training and teacher preparation programs, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Preparing, Recruiting, and Retaining Education Professionals, PRREP, Act to improve education and student achievement through high-quality preparation, induction, and professional development for teachers, early childhood education providers, principals, and administrators.

As Congress turns to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, we must ensure that educators receive the training and support necessary to thrive in our Nation's early childhood programs, elementary schools, and secondary schools. Improving teacher quality is the single most effective measure we can take to increase student achievement.

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act we took an important step toward demanding that all of the Nation's children are taught by highly qualified teachers. To meet the law's definition, teachers are generally required to hold a bachelor's degree, be fully certified by a State, and to demonstrate content knowledge of the subjects they teach. The deadline is looming, and the States are struggling to get all of their teachers deemed highly qualified by the coming school year.

This struggle will not end at the initial deadline. Teacher turnover regularly drains schools of their most important resource, qualified educators. Higher standards for teacher credentials are essential, but at the same time make it even more challenging for schools to staff their classrooms. This is a critical moment for us to tackle persistent teacher attrition and to foment teacher retention. At the same time, we have an opportunity to support the development of educators so they not only have the credentials, but also the skills and training to be truly effective in the classroom. By strengthening the State, partnership, and recruitment grants in Title II of the Higher Education Act, my legislation will accomplish both of these important goals.

Teacher attrition undermines teacher quality and creates teacher shortages. According to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, one-third of beginning teachers leave the profession within 3 years, and nearly one-half leave within 5 years. In high poverty schools turnover rates are even worse--approximately one-third higher than the rate for all teachers. A recent study in New York found that teachers who leave are likely to have greater skills than those who stay.

The Preparing, Recruiting, and Retaining Education Professionals Act focuses recruitment activities where high teacher turnover and shortages exist, where students are having trouble meeting academic standards, or where there is great difficulty demonstrating that teachers are highly qualified. The grants also allow funds for outreach to encourage recruitment in inner city and rural areas.

Teachers consistently cite lack of administrative support as a primary reason for leaving a school and teaching altogether. My legislation would create a year-long clinical learning experience for prospective teachers, and establish a three-year residency program for new teachers that provides comprehensive induction. The legislation also includes provisions to develop managerial skills among principals so they can provide the most effective instructional leadership and classroom support for teachers during induction and beyond. Research consistently shows that induction programs reduce the number of teachers who leave their schools or the profession. Comprehensive induction programs can cut that number by half or more.

Furthermore, my legislation promotes professional development throughout a teacher's career and strengthens teacher preparation programs so that teachers will reach their maximum potential to positively affect student achievement. A focus on scientific knowledge of teaching skills and methods of student learning will equip teachers to understand and respond effectively to diverse student populations, including students with disabilities, limited-English proficient students, and students with different learning styles or other special learning needs. The legislation also stresses the ability to integrate technology into the classroom, strategies to effectively use assessments to improve instructional practices and curriculum, and an understanding of how to communicate with and involve parents in their children's education.

My legislation further focuses on teaching skills and learning strategies by including in the partnership grants academic departments such as psychology, human development, or one with comparable expertise in the disciplines of teaching, learning, and child and adolescent development. It also ensures that States hold institutions of higher education and entities that provide alternative routes to State certification equally accountable for preparing highly qualified teachers and highly competent early childhood education providers.

The State, partnership, and recruitment grants are currently funded at only $68 million a year--far too small of an investment for this critical enterprise. The stakes are too high, not just in terms of meeting the highly qualified requirements of No Child Left Behind, but for real students in real classrooms. My bill significantly boosts this funding, authorizing $500 million for these vital programs.

The PRREP Act is supported by a diverse array of education organizations, including the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Psychological Association, Council for Exceptional Children, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and National PTA.

I urge my colleagues to join me in this essential endeavor by cosponsoring this legislation and working for its inclusion in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of this legislation be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 1364

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov