The Senate Finance Committee held its fourth in a series of hearings Thursday to prepare for Congressional action on health reform.

The latest hearing examined how health information technology could be used to improve healthcare delivery and, in some cases, reduce healthcare spending. The meeting explored what causes geographic variation in healthcare spending and looked at two potential solutions, comparative effectiveness research and health IT, which could help facilitate this type of research.

Dr. Gail Wilensky, a senior fellow with Project Hope, said the establishment of a center for comparative clinical effectiveness could develop and facilitate the information needed to address issues like variation in healthcare spending.

Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) have announced plans to introduce legislation later this year to create such an institute.

Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag said, "The bottom line is that research does indicate that, in certain settings, health IT appears to facilitate reductions in health spending if other steps in the broader healthcare system are also taken to alter incentives to promote savings. By itself, however, the adoption of more health IT is generally not sufficient to produce significant cost savings."

Baucus acknowledged that experts disagree about the benefits of health IT but said it's likely to be a key component of healthcare reform.