[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18473-18474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTH-IT INTRODUCTION

  (Mr. MOORE of Kansas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Information technology has significantly changed 
the way we live and do business, making it easier to communicate with 
others, manage our personal finances or even track a package we ship 
across the country. Unfortunately, the health care industry lags far 
behind other sectors in its utilization of information technology. The 
inefficiencies and redundancies that result from this lack of 
automation costs the industry billions of dollars a year, but, more 
importantly, it costs lives and reduces quality of care.
  As Congress considers health care reform proposals, focus should be 
given to system changes providing patients with more choices, more 
convenience and control over their health care records. That is why 
today I will be introducing the Independent Health

[[Page 18474]]

Record Trust Act. I will introduce this with Congressman Paul Ryan from 
Wisconsin, and we have over 30 original cosponsors, to establish a 
market-driven approach to building a national health information 
network through the establishment of federally certified organizations 
called Independent Health Record Trusts. Individuals would have the 
option to sign up for an account to be managed by a health record trust 
similar to the way banks offer and maintain credit card accounts. 
Patients will have ownership of their electronic records and can create 
multiple health entries so their dermatologist will not see their 
mental health history. We will be introducing this today. We hope for 
speedy passage through the Congress.

                          ____________________