Senator John Ensign, a long-time advocate of Health Information Technology, led a bipartisan group today to discuss a way to reduce medical errors, lower healthcare costs and improve our overall quality of health care.  Joined by Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Ensign introduced a bill to encourage the electronic prescribing of prescription drugs through Medicare.

“With this bill, we’re helping to bring our healthcare system into the 21st Century in a way that will result in fewer mistakes and lower costs,” said Ensign. “Doctors and medical professionals should utilize the best of today’s technology to improve patient safety and advance our quality of health care.  E-prescribing is an easy solution that will save lives, time and money.”

This legislation would provide physicians with incentives to use e-prescribing.  This technology decreases prescription errors caused by hard-to-read handwriting, helps to prevent adverse drug interactions, improves quality of care and cuts costs by reducing cumbersome paperwork.

“This bill is a good step, but Health IT can and should be extended even further.  Consider our health records as an example.  These should be interoperable and electronic so information can be shared faster and more easily, while also lowering costs,” said Ensign.  “I’m hopeful that we can continue to find bipartisan support for Health IT solutions that will improve quality of care and save taxpayers and patients money.”