Health care IT spending for 2008 remains in limbo as lawmakers search for a compromise on the 2008 budget, Healthcare IT News reports (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 12/18).
The House on Monday approved a $516 billion omnibus spending bill, the Los Angeles Times reports. Meanwhile, the Senate on Tuesday in a 76-17 vote passed a $555 billion version of the omnibus spending bill that included $70 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill now goes back to the House for consideration of the war funding (Levey, Los Angeles Times, 12/19).
The legislation includes more than $6 million for telemedicine projects and nearly $18 million for health care IT projects. However, e-Health Law and the Center for Telehealth note that the omnibus spending measure includes a slight reduction in funding for the Office of the Advancement of Telehealth (Healthcare IT News, 12/18).
If the war funding is approved by the House, President Bush has indicated that he will sign the spending bill (Hulse, New York Times, 12/19). If lawmakers are unable to reach a compromise, they will be forced to pass a continuing resolution to freeze spending at the current levels for next year (Healthcare IT News, 12/18).