Read first time 01/20/09.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Expanded health information technology has the potential to revolutionize the delivery of health care in the United States by enabling continuity of care, improving cost efficiency, lowering rates of medical malpractice, decreasing duplicative care, providing better care management for patients, and producing better health outcomes; and
     WHEREAS, Major investments in the hardware and software infrastructure required to facilitate the expansion of health information technology are being made now by health care providers; and
     WHEREAS, The health information systems currently being constructed are often incapable of communicating with each other; and
     WHEREAS, The costs to providers of maintaining incompatible systems in the name of proprietary licensing will grow exponentially with every delay in reaching a universal standard of interoperability; and
     WHEREAS, The benefit from health information technology is only derived from the ability of systems to communicate with each other on a fully compatible platform; and
     WHEREAS, A national public-private partnership has recently commenced with leadership from the United States department of health and human services to define standards of interoperability with the goal of implementing electronic health records for all Americans by the year 2014;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress institute a date certain, no later than January 1, 2013, at which time all vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers of health information technology must comply with a uniform national standard of interoperability, such that all electronic medical and health records can be readily shared and accessed across all health care providers and institutions while at the same time preserving the proprietary nature of health information technology producers that will encourage future innovation and competition.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Governor of the State of Washington, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.