WASHINGTON--In the future, gathering patient medical records could be as simple as swiping a card--eliminating the hassles of collecting documents from physicians--under technology being encouraged in a bill unanimously passed by the Senate.

The Wired for Health Care Quality Act brings Americans closer to being able to carry a card or identification tag that contains all of their patient data, insurance and medical history records wherever they go, said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., one of the bill's sponsors.

"If we can wave a wand and buy gas at the pump, then we should be able to utilize the newest technology on something even more important like allowing patients to transfer information between hospitals and doctors' offices in seconds, without complicated, wasteful paper records," said Enzi, who is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Supporters also say the bipartisan bill, designed to encourage the widespread adoption of information technology in health care, will improve patient care, reduce medical errors and save money.

The legislation is a compromise between previous bills coming from both sides of the floor, including from high profile Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

Some of the provisions in the bill include:
--creating the American Health Information Collaborative, a public-private panel that would be charged with making health IT recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services;
--making recommendations to identify uniform national standards to support the widespread adoption of health IT;
-- providing grants for incorporating the technology to health profession centers, academic centers and health care providers; and
--codifying into federal law the HHS position of National Coordinator of Health IT.

President Bush has set a goal of having electronic health records for most Americans in 10 years, and creating universally accepted records and operating standards among the nation's fragmented health systems is a first step toward that goal. The National Coordinator of Health IT, a position currently held by David Brailer, would oversee creation and manage development of a health IT infrastructure, so that with interoperability, EHRs could be shared and read by all.

Implementing the bill, which was co-sponsored by 38 senators, would cost $40 million in 2006 and $652 million over the 2006-2010 period, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Last month, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt announced that contracts totaling $18.6 million had been awarded to four groups of health care and health IT organizations to create prototypes for a Nationwide Health Information Network architecture.

"This effort will help design an information network that will transform our health care system resulting in higher quality, lower costs, less hassle and better care for American consumers," Leavitt said.

To view the text of the bill, also known as S.1418, visit http://thomas.loc.gov.