[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 6, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H6013]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS

  (Mr. BOUSTANY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, during my career as a heart surgeon, I saw 
too many patients who were trapped in a paper-based system that leads 
to duplicative tests and avoidable medical errors.
  Despite the advancement of innovative health information technology, 
America's health care system remains trapped in the 20th century. The 
need for health IT became even more apparent during Hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita, when I saw displaced patients present themselves in makeshift 
clinics with little or no medical history to guide their health 
providers.
  To date, only 24 percent of Louisiana physicians have converted their 
offices to electronic health records because many are unwilling or 
unable to handle the cost.
  I will soon introduce a bill to create a demonstration project 
through the Department of Health and Human Services to provide 
financial incentives to providers and health information exchange 
networks to encourage the adoption and use of interactive personal 
health records.
  Health IT will greatly improve the quality of information and care 
that patients receive, but Congress should do more to encourage 
physicians to transfer to a paperless system.

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