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Possible presidential candidates support new medical records bill

Healthcare Security Weekly, June 20, 2005

Senators, and potential presidential candidates for the 2008 election, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Frist are supporting a new medical records bill that would help the healthcare community move away from paper records, reports the Associated Press.

Clinton, a New York Democrat, and Frist, a Tennessee Republican, spoke about the issue recently on NBC's "Today" show.

Clinton said on the show that the bill would "create a framework" by which hospitals and other healthcare facilities could upgrade their recordkeeping in a standardized fashion.

The bill, called "The Health Technology to Enhance Quality Act of 2005," would authorize $125 million per year for five years in grants to implement regional or local health information plans that improve health care quality and efficiency.

The two senators said they believe the bill is necessary to prevent life-threatening mistakes by making files electronically accessible in an age where people can retrieve most other information easily on the Internet.

"We're really in the Dark Ages...We have to make the case for it, but I know that both Senator Frist and I are determined to move this legislation because for every month that we wait, people are spending money on these systems which may or may not make the kind of seamless system that we are looking for in this country," the AP reports Clinton said on "Today."

The senators added that keeping the records safe and confidential must be a priority with the new bill.

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