Washington, D.C. — Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Congressman Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), and Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) issued the following statement after the introduction of H.R. 3120. This legislation will amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reduce the volume of future electronic health record-related significant hardship requests.

“Electronic health records place an enormous burden on physicians, and have failed to live up to their promise to improve health care delivery for patients. Unfortunately, current law places an arbitrary requirement on the Secretary of Health and Human Services to impose an increasingly stringent burden on physicians’ use of these records systems,” said Congressman Burgess. “This bipartisan legislation provides a common-sense solution for a burden that negatively impacts both patients and providers, resulting in better care.” 

“This legislation represents a commonsense step to ease burdens on medical providers and improve patient care,” said Congresswoman Dingell. “It will allow HHS to continue to improve the use of electronic medical records, which can save time, improve accuracy and lead to better patient outcomes, without placing an undue burden on those who deliver care.”

“Our bipartisan bill will ease burdens on providers and streamline reporting processes so that they can focus on what they do best—care for their patients. This is a needed solution that is an important part in our efforts to transition to a better patient-centered health care system,” said Congressman Tiberi.

“I’m glad to collaborate with my colleagues on this commonsense, bipartisan fix. Electronic health records have great potential to improve care coordination and patient outcomes. This measure will help to ensure that health providers aren’t unduly burdened by reporting measures that don’t improve care quality,” said Congressman Thompson.

You can read the bill here.