Legislation introduced to offer some legal protection to providers who use electronic medical records

The legislation, which would focus its legal protection on providers who participate in Medicare and Medicaid, is designed to encourage the adoption of health information technology.

Modern Healthcare: Bill Would Give EHR Users Legal Protection
Rep. Thomas Marino (R-Pa.) introduced legislation that would offer limited legal protection to the Medicare and Medicaid providers that use electronic health records. The Safeguarding Access for Every Medicare Patient Act would reduce costs, guarantee incentives for providers to continue to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and promote the use of health IT systems, according to a news release from Marino's office (Lee, 10/28).

Meanwhile, news outlets report on how specific hospitals are doing with their efforts to convert to electronic records.

Arizona Republic: Electronic Medical Records Net Rewards
Arizona hospitals and doctors have started reaping financial rewards for converting to electronic health records. The state's Medicaid program last week sent out $15.7 million in federal stimulus payments to nine Banner Health and three other hospitals that attested to using electronic health records. It's the first batch of payments sent to Arizona hospitals, which can reap larger payments next year if they demonstrate they have achieved "meaningful use" of electronic health records (Altucker, 10/29).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Children's Hospital Begins Conversion To Electronic Records
Earlier this month, more than 400 employees of Children's Hospital and Health System spent a day at the Frontier Airlines Center planning for a project estimated to cost more than $120 million over the next five years: the health system's conversion to electronic health records. Children's Hospital will be the last health system in the Milwaukee area to move from paper to electronic records. And it knows the project will be massive and complex. … The health systems in just the Milwaukee area will spend well over half a billion dollars moving from paper to electronic medical records. But the investment could give them an essential tool for improving and tracking the quality of care (Boulton, 10/29).