Video: Senators and CEOs Urge Passage of Health I...( 'Wired for Health Care Quality Ac...),Health

'Wired for Health Care Quality Act' Would Save Thousands of Lives, Billions of Dollars

WASHINGTON, April 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CEOs representing America's top companies joined forces Wednesday, April 2, 2008, with U.S. Senate health leaders to urge swift passage of the "Wired for Health Care Quality Act," a measure to bring the power of information technology to the health care sector.

To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/brt/32565/

"We can save thousands of lives and conserve billions of dollars for health care with this one stroke -- and we can do it this year," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and sponsor of the legislation.

"The healthcare and business communities, including small businesses, are clamoring for Congress to take action and establish uniform health IT standards," said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the HELP committee and original co-sponsor of the legislation. "This bill will eliminate duplicative tests and reduce medical errors. Moving from a paper-based health care system to secure electronic medical records will save lives and reduce skyrocketing health care costs."

Joining the Senate leaders were Business Roundtable members Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Inc., and Ronald A. Williams, chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc. The four called for speedy passage of the bill, which seeks to replace the current system of paper records with secure, protected electronic records.

Also presented during the event was a compelling compilation of data by Dr. Robert Wescott documenting the potential life saving and cost saving benefits of health IT.

-- The RAND Corporation found that widespread usage of health IT could produce annual savings in efficiency and impro
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