Leavitt Discusses Health Care Reform

The U.S. health care system needs an interoperable electronic health records and billing system and more transparency on the price and quality of services, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt told a group of physicians at the Indiana State Medical Association headquarters on Thursday, the Indianapolis Star reports.

Leavitt has been touring the nation to discuss health care reform with medical professionals and business leaders. "I've come to conclude there really isn't a health care system. There's a health care sector," Leavitt said, adding, "There's really nothing that connects it together into an economic system."

He also told the group that he expects Congress to begin discussions on pay-for-performance programs and possible changes to the planned 5.1% reduction in physicians' Medicare reimbursements, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2007 (Lee, Indianapolis Star, 10/13).