Chris Sununu: “In calling up this amendment, I wish to make sure this budget resolution effectively addresses the issue of health…”

“In calling up this amendment, I wish to make sure this budget resolution effectively addresses the issue of health information technology. I know the issue was addressed, in part, in the construction of the budget resolution, but I think we have a historic opportunity to enact legislation this year that makes a difference, and the kind of technology available to providers, to doctors and nurses, to patients, technology that improves efficiency, reduces medical errors, and improves the quality of care, not for thousands but for millions of Americans, especially older Americans on Medicare. A lot of these benefits were recognized in the resolution, but I think we need to go further. We need to make sure this budget resolution, and the health care fund that was established in it, focuses on electronic prescribing in particular. While there are a number of areas of health care information technology that have great potential, this is an area of health care IT, electronic prescriptions, whose time is now. In hundreds of thousands of places around the country, electronic prescribing systems are being used, being used effectively, to save time, to save money, to reduce unnecessary errors in the dispensing of medicine, ultimately improving the quality of care and reducing costs. I think it is essential that this budget resolution focus on electronic prescribing and legislation to expand the use and access of electronic prescriptions because it is something we can get done this year.”