A bill that would modernize how Alaska health care providers keep medical records is speeding through the Legislature to capture federal stimulus money.
The bill, approved unanimously Wednesday in the Senate, moved out of the House Finance Committee on Friday on its way to a floor vote before adjournment Sunday.
The bill would start the process of replacing paper records on prescription information, laboratory results and other medical records with an electronic health information exchange system.
Sponsor Sen. Joe Paskvan, D-Fairbanks, said the current system needs fixing.
“Our state has a medical system with a flaw in it. Our hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and clinics cannot communicate with each other,” Paskvan said. “Senate Bill 133 seeks to correct that flaw to save lives, provide better medical care and save money.”
The system would electronically link labs, clinics, pharmacies and hospitals, he said, and reduce the risk of drug interactions, misdiagnoses and administrative costs. It also would allow individual Alaskans to keep copies of their medical records.
The Bush administration initiated the push to electronic records in 2002 with implementation scheduled by 2014. After 2015, Medicare providers will be required to bill electronically.
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government would pay most of the cost of setting up the state’s information exchange systems through a matching grant. It also would provide grants to health care providers to convert to electronic records.
The Department of Health and Social Services estimates the total cost to the state at $27.5 million, with almost $25 million coming in stimulus dollars if the state requests the money this year.
That’s because the act offers a match of $10 in federal money for every $1 in state money the first year of the program. The federal match falls to $7 the following year and to $3 the year after.
The department deputy commissioner, Bill Streur, said the administration does not have a position on the bill, though he acknowledged that the state will have to convert at some point in the next five years.
However, Streur expressed concern “about the overall cost of the system and what the long-term effect will be to the state providers and individuals.”
Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, said the state should seize the opportunity.
“We always seem like we are a few years behind in Alaska,” Thomas said. “I’d like someone to be able to access my records if I’m in Sitka, rather than die.”
Paskvan said the bill contains privacy protections that would be particularly stringent if stimulus dollars are used.
Penalties can range from $100 for an unwitting violation to $50,000 for an act of willful neglect that is not corrected.
Over 300 health care organizations in Alaska support the electronic information exchange system, according to the bill sponsor.
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