Sen. Rodham Clinton to reintroduce Health IT, Caregiver bills

Feb 14, 2007--Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday announced that she will reintroduce legislation that would broaden the use of electronic health records and give principal caregivers temporary respite, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Clinton's first legislative proposal -- outlined during a speech Tuesday to AARP -- would allow hospitals and doctors electronic access to patients' health records. She said that if a person needs to see a doctor while visiting another state, "you have to give a history, they'll do tests and maybe you had that test a week ago." EHRs would help to eliminate that redundancy, which can result in an "enormous" amount of spending, Clinton said.

The second proposal would authorize grants to state respite-care service providers that could be used to train and recruit workers and volunteers, educate family caregivers and provide information about available services.

In her speech, Clinton said that "the time has come" for an overhaul of the health system and that she will ask people what changes they think need to be made as she tours the country, gathering support for her presidential campaign. Clinton said, "I think we need to take a deep breath as a country and ask ourselves, we're spending more than everyone else and we're not insuring everyone and we're underinsuring millions? It's time to have a serious conversation about what we do moving forward" (Itkowitz, CQ HealthBeat, 2/13).