Committee passes two health care bills

Two health-care-related bills — one that enacts a state electronic drug prescribing act, the other requiring background checks for anyone who gives medical care to an elderly or disabled person — passed a Senate committee Monday evening.

The latter, HB142, which sailed through the House 70-2 last week, did the same in a Senate committee hearing where it was endorsed unanimously Monday evening.

The bill also sets up a private right of legal action against a health care facility that intentionally doesn't report abuse.

HB128, which was approved by the House 65-10 Feb. 12, intends to bring prescription writing and dispensing up with current information technology. Sponsor Rep. Ronda Rudd Menlove, R-Garland, told the newspaper Monday that modernizing the vital prescription drug sector of the health care system meshes with the state's general comprehensive health care reform effort. "It speaks directly to quality of care issues we're trying to address in the reform process."

The lawmaker said although the bill won't take effect until 2012, it's past time that medicine implemented electronic prescribing, just to clean up mistakes and rechecking between physicians and pharmacists.

Her bill, however, has a three-year lag time in order for the federal government to issue guidelines for the controlled substance medications that HB128 would affect, Menlove said.

E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com