Henry Brown: “As chairman of the Committee's Subcommittee on Health, I led the committee's effort to understand the health-related…”

“As chairman of the Committee's Subcommittee on Health, I led the committee's effort to understand the health-related impact of the recent loss of computers by the Veterans Administration. While this summer's computer loss regrettably saw the theft of VA data, this incident did not see the security of veterans health records compromised. Indeed, recent events, such as the VA's response to Katrina, have shown the value of electronic medical records. During the aftermath of that disaster, VA doctors and nurses were able to treat without interruption patients transferred from VA facilities in New Orleans because of the VA's reliance on electronic medical records. All patient records were backed up, secured, transported and were back online and available almost immediately. That said, we should not let the benefits of portable electronic records of any kind conflict with the need to keep them secure. Medical records contain a great deal of confidential personal information; and if those records get in the hands of the wrong people, it would pose a real problem and even in some cases, perhaps a national security risk.”