For Immediate Release
October 21, 2010
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Folmer Reacts to PHIX Award

HARRISBURG – Senator Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon), Chairman of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee, reacted to today's announcement that the Rendell Administration will award a $31,701,550 contract to Medicity to move forward with a planned Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange (PHIX).

"I look forward to learning more how this contract was developed and approved – especially since we ended up exactly where we started nearly a year ago:  using the same contractor as Delaware.  It will be interesting to see if we have a Pennsylvania tail wagging the Delaware dog for electronic medical records and information."

PHIX is a planned information technology system designed to electronically share patient information among health care providers confidentially.  In the beginning of the year, the Rendell Administration announced it would be awarding yet another no-bid, sole source contract to Medicity, which is already administering the state of Delaware's health information exchange.

"Competitive bidding is key to ensuring the Commonwealth is squeezing every penny out of every tax dollar," said Folmer.

Not bidding the PHIX initiative spurred Folmer and twenty other Senators to introduce legislation (Senate Bill 8) requiring the Administration to solicit proposals from other companies.

Said Folmer:  "To the Administration's credit, they agreed to a competitive bid process, which resulted in over 100 interested bidders and over a dozen actual proposals.  However, after all was said and done, they're now back with the same vendor they started with.  What's more disturbing is the fact this is being done at the end of the Administration as voters prepare for a new Governor and a new Administration.  I want to know all the I's were dotted and the T's crossed to definitively prove the process was fair, open, and transparent."

Of special interest to Folmer is how the PHIX initiative will fulfill guidelines established by the Senate last July for the expenditure of federal stimulus moneys (Senate Resolution 133).  The $31.7 Million contract is to be covered in part with a $17.1 Million federal stimulus grant.

"The full Senate unanimously agreed to some key principles to ensure federal moneys spent by the Commonwealth have the same close scrutiny as other tax moneys.  I'm particularly interested in how a Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange will be self-sustaining after the federal stimulus moneys dry up.  Governor Rendell came to Harrisburg saying he inherited a $2 Billion 'structural deficit'.  He will be leaving town with a $5 Billion structural deficit.  PHIX should not be added to the tally of the sea of red ink he is leaving behind."

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