In his Plan for a Healthy America, Presidential candidate Barack Obama called for lowering costs through investment in electronic health information systems at the Federal level, acknowledging that paper-based medical records are cumbersome and error-prone. In several of his stump speeches, he drummed home the point that processing paper claims was also twice as expensive. While still a candidate, he pledged to invest $ 10 billion a year through 2013 to move the U.S. health care system, a juggernaut if there ever was one, towards a broad adoption of standards-based electronic health care systems, including electronic health records.

In his December 8, 2008, radio address, President-elect Obama discussed his extensive plans for stimulating the economy. Included in his plans was a significant investment in EMRs. “In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to each other through the internet, we must modernize our health care system. This won’t just save jobs – it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.”

As President Obama’s February 2009 stimulus package neared its historic passage, the President gave a speech in Washington, D.C. continuing his clarion call for providing electronic patient records throughout the United States within the next five years. Explained the President in the impressive oratory style that has already come to define him, “To improve the quality of our health care while lowering its cost, we will make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America’s medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests. But it just won’t save billions of dollars and thousands of jobs – it will save lives by reducing the deadly, but preventable, medical errors that pervade our health care system.”

On this issue of EMR, Barack Obama has remained as steadfast as a straight arrow.

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