Transition Watch: Daschle likely to push for health IT

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Health and Human Services Department is a strong proponent of expanded use of health information technology as one aspect of comprehensive health reform, .Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis,” published in early 2008, notes that “we are years, if not decades, behind European nations in harnessing health care information technology’s potential.” In the book, Daschle calls for removing much health care policy-making from the political arena but states that at the same time the executive branch of the federal government should promote creation of an IT infrastructure for health information, according to Government Health IT.