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November 17, 2008
Urge Your State Legislators to Pass HB3889: Funding for Illinois Rural HealthNet and Statewide Health Information Exchange Initiative
Starting this Wednesday, Nov. 19, the General Assembly will consider
legislation, House Bill 3889 (House Amendment 2), which includes appropriations
of
$2 million for the Illinois Rural HealthNet and $3 million for a statewide
health information exchange initiative.
IHA strongly supports this legislation to help fund the Illinois Rural
HealthNet – a coalition of universities and rural health providers from across
Illinois – as it builds a high-speed, fiber optic network for rural hospitals
and clinics throughout the state to enhance emergency care, remote diagnostics
and better access to medical specialists. This legislation will also provide
funding for regional planning grants for health information exchanges for the
secure sharing of electronic health records (EHRs) among providers and to foster
widespread use of EHRs by providers and the general public.
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your state Senators and Representatives and
urge them to support House Bill 3889 in the Veto Session this week.
Talking Points
I respectfully urge you to support and pass House Bill 3889 to
provide critically needed funding for the Illinois Rural HealthNet and for
health information exchanges.
The Illinois Rural HealthNet will enable hospitals and clinics in rural
areas across the state to improve patients’ access to quality health
services, specialty care and diagnostic services through telemedicine – the
use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic
communications.
Through the Rural HealthNet’s state-of-the-art, fiber-optic network,
rural hospitals and clinics will be able to dramatically expand medical
services for patients – including enhanced emergency care and opportunities
for physicians to consult other physicians hundreds of miles away – and to
enable patients to have access to specialists around the state without
leaving their home towns.
The network will also enable improved diagnostics for rural patients in
such areas as radiology, neurology, cardiology and pre-natal and psychiatric
services. In many parts of Illinois, patients do not have local access to
specialists and must travel great distances to obtain those services.
HB3889 will also provide planning funds for the establishment of
health information exchanges across the state to enable the sharing of
electronic health records that will help improve the quality of care and
safety and increase the efficiency of health care practice.
Nearly two years ago, the Electronic Health Records Task Force issued a
report to the General Assembly calling for the development and use of
electronic health records and the secure sharing of such information among
providers through health information exchanges.
Patients benefit because electronic health records enable health care
providers to have the clinical information they need when it is needed to
promote the highest quality care.
Please support House Bill 3889.
Reminder: Please also ask your Senators to support and pass two other
very important bills during this week’s Veto Session: HB6350 to restore
$350 million in hospital Medicaid funding in the state budget, and SB1415
to clarify and maintain the existing FamilyCare Program.
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