[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS

  (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse is literally 
wasting billions of health care dollars and taking them away from 
elderly, blind, disabled and low-income Americans. For example, in 
California they found illegal billing for over $20 million for tests 
never authorized by physicians. The State of New York identified some 
$18 billion worth of fraud. Practices like this are unacceptable.
  Yesterday the Committee on Energy and Commerce provided $100 million 
in grants for health care providers who adopt electronic medical 
records. These advances in health information technology will help 
providers with large Medicaid populations, like community health 
centers and inner-city hospitals.
  A Rand study reported that if we use electronic medical records 
throughout the Nation, it could save $160 billion-plus in medical 
costs. The expansion of health IT promises to reduce errors and 
streamline Medicaid administration.
  Mr. Speaker, health IT is the future. It is where we are going and 
applies this significant technology to save money, and, most 
importantly, lives. I urge my colleagues to visit my Web site at 
murphy.house.gov for more information.

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