MANY NEVADA SENIORS, including my mother, visit more than one doctor and fill numerous prescriptions every month. Oftentimes this overflow of information can lead to confusion on the part of patients and healthcare professionals, and result in costly medical mistakes that could have tragic consequences.

In order to reduce these types of errors and give patients more control over their health information, I have introduced the "Federal Family Health Information Technology Act. "

My legislation will provide every participant of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program with an electronic healthcare record, and will effectively serve as the largest health information technology project in the country. It will allow patients to keep all of their essential medical information in one place, which will greatly increase accuracy when health information is exchanged. It will also make these improved records portable, which is critical in today's world.

While my legislation will only affect federal employees and their families in the immediate future, I am confident that it will set the stage and provide a successful model for health information technology information implementation at the national level.

By embracing existing technologies, we can greatly improve the way healthcare is delivered.