EPN - Electronic Prescribing News: Bush urges more technology for medical records

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January 28, 2005

Bush urges more technology for medical records

HoustonChronicle.com - Bush urges more technology for medical records

Bush pitches e-health in Ohio
The president wants more use of technology for medical records
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press

Associated Press
President Bush is shown a health care information technology system by Dr.John Aposto Lakis at Cleveland Clnic Thursday.
CLEVELAND - President Bush returned to the state that helped seal his re-election victory to pitch his second-term health agenda, urging greater use of computerized medical records and electronic prescriptions.
"It can save money and save lives," Bush said Thursday at a forum at the Cleveland Clinic. He said medical record-keeping, where most prescriptions and many medical documents are still handwritten, lags that of other industries.
In Washington, the Department of Health and Human Services announced steps to incorporate electronic prescribing into the new Medicare prescription drug program that begins in January 2006.
The regulations will require that e-prescribing is made available to participating seniors, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said.
It was Bush's first trip of his second term, and he chose the state whose 20 electoral votes put him over the top on Election Day — a victory that triggered a wave of Democratic protests over voting irregularities.
The president plans a series of barnstorming trips to promote his domestic agenda, many to swing states that were critical in the 2004 race and will be battlegrounds in future elections.
"We've got the best medical system in the world. The role of the federal government is to keep it that way," the president told a hand-picked audience of doctors and other medical professionals.
Bush has issued proposals that would have Americans shoulder more financial responsibility for health care and retirement.
This includes using medical savings accounts, which are tax-free investments that can be used for health expenses; allowing small businesses in different states to band together to offer insurance to workers; and adding private investment accounts to Social Security.
"Most industries in America have used information technology to make their businesses more cost-effective, more efficient and more productive — and the truth of the matter is health care hasn't," Bush said.
In the budget he will send to Congress next month, Bush will propose spending $125 million to test computerization of health records, more than twice what is being spent in the budget year that ends Sept. 30.