This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Informatics/ Internet in Medicine  • Medical Informatics  • Law and Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic

Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2005;294:1201.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Legislation that would spur the development of health information technology and thereby reduce medical errors and medical costs is gaining momentum in the Senate.

The bill introduced by Sen Mike Enzi (R, Wyo) has powerful bipartisan backing from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R, Tenn), Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton (D, NY), and Sen Edward Kennedy (D, Mass). It was unanimously passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The bill replaces and combines previous legislation to develop a nationwide system of secure electronic medical records. Such a system has also been promoted by President Bush.

Implementing the bill would cost $40 million in 2006 and $652 million over the 2006-2010 period, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. But proponents of the legislation estimate it could save the nation $140 billion a year in health care costs.

In addition to reducing costs, proponents say the legislation . . . [Full Text of this Article]