Sen. Enzi is ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Yesterday, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Chairman of the HELP Committee, along with the CEOs of some of America’s largest employers and I joined together for a press conference to urge passage of the “Wired for Health Care Quality Act,” S. 1693, a bipartisan bill that will encourage the adoption of cutting-edge-information technologies in health care to improve patient care, reduce medical errors, and cut health care costs.

Doctors, hospitals, health care advocates, and the business community — including small businesses — are clamoring for Congress to take action and establish uniform health IT standards. Time is of the essence. Pen and paper record keeping can’t keep pace with the miraculous advances being made in medical science and health care. Keeping one foot in the 20th century while trying to prepare our health care system for the difficult challenges that lie ahead just won’t work. Congress should act on Health IT legislation as soon as possible, so that we can establish an interconnected, nationwide health technology system to improve the quality of care in this country.

The bill will lay the foundation for technology and information sharing among doctors, hospitals, and insurers to ensure that patient data, insurance and medical histories are available wherever and whenever treatment is needed. A Rand Corporation study projected a potential savings of $162 billion a year for the health care industry under the initiative.

Information is power, and this bill puts that power in the hands of doctors and health professionals for the good of their patients. This bipartisan bill will eliminate duplicative tests and reduce medical errors. Moving from a paper-based health care system to secure electronic medical records will save lives and reduce skyrocketing health care costs.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized .