Billy Long: “What an accomplishment it is to have this historic legislation on the House floor. I want to congratulate the chairman…”

“What an accomplishment it is to have this historic legislation on the House floor. I want to congratulate the chairman and my Energy and Commerce Committee colleagues for their hard work. We are much closer to moving American medical innovation into the 21st century. Part of that is to keep up with the ability to communicate in a modern way with patients. As the chairman knows, I have worked very closely with him and his staff during this past year to draft language to update the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of healthcare information on the Internet, especially on social media. Millions of people use the Internet to find critical health information on treatments and other health topics. Unfortunately, current FDA regulations do not help communicate accurate, meaningful information online about healthcare solutions, such as prescription drugs and medical devices. There is enormous potential to improve American lives if we can get the FDA to write workable rules and guidance to communicate information where people's attention is focused. After all, the FDA itself regularly turns to the Internet to announce its activities and inform the public, presumably in a safe and informative way. I have legislation to do this, and I hope to continue working with the chairman to modernize healthcare communications and, thus, help improve the lives of all Americans.…”