If you don't know much about the healthcare reform bill passed in March, you're not alone.

When 2,100 adults were given a list of 18 reform items and asked to identify which were part of the law and which weren't, most of those polled correctly identified only four items, according to findings from a Harris Interactive survey. The online survey polled 2,100 adults between July 15 and 19.

When it comes to getting the message out, it seems the administration needs to improve its communications strategy.

Here are some areas were a general cluelessness among those polled prevailed:

• 82 percent think the bill will result in rationing of healthcare or that it might (it won't); 
• 79 percent don't know or aren't sure if drug companies will pay an annual fee, (they will); 
• 73 percent don't know the law establishes a new tax on the sale of medical devices; 
• 66 percent don't know or aren't sure if the legislation will result in insurance exchanges where people can shop for insurance, (it will); and 
• 63 percent either aren't sure or don't know if the new law will increase the number of people eligible for Medicaid, (it will).

Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, attributed the confusion about the reform to its being "fiendishly complicated." He also credited the long and heated political debate that surrounded the bill before it passed. "The level of ignorance and misinformation is sort of astounding," he said in a statement. "It seems people are still reacting to the rhetoric, not the substance of what is in the bill, because they don't actually know what is or is not in the actual legislation."

As the federal government ramps up its plan to help doctors and hospitals invest in electronic health record systems, the Health IT Policy Committee has been debating what role FDA should play in overseeing the safety of those systems.

In a report to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the Policy Committee called for the development of a national program that would monitor patient safety problems in health IT systems, but the committee stopped short of saying what agency should run it.

In an iHealthBeat Special Report by Kelly Wilkinson, health IT experts discuss whether FDA should be involved in monitoring the safety of EHR systems.

Some experts say FDA's oversight could extend to the safety of EHR systems, but others worry that FDA's involvement could stifle innovation.

The Special Report includes comments from:

• Dave deBronkart, an advocate for involving patients in health IT;
• Deven McGraw, director of the Health Privacy Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology; and
• Paul Tang, vice chair of the Health IT Policy Committee and chief innovation and technology officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (Wilkinson, iHealthBeat, 6/9).

The complete transcript of this Special Report is available as a PDF