I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3607 
To improve the quality of health care through the implementation of comput-
erized provider order entry systems in hospitals and skilled nursing 
facilities that will result in a reduction in the rate of medication errors 
and in redundancies and will create more efficiency. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2005 
Mr. SWEENEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To improve the quality of health care through the implemen-
tation of computerized provider order entry systems in 
hospitals and skilled nursing facilities that will result 
in a reduction in the rate of medication errors and in 
redundancies and will create more efficiency. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The Future of 
Healthcare—Granting Access to Innovation in America 
Act (GAIA Act)’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Medical errors, such as the miscalculation 
of prescribed dosage amounts and the illegible hand-
writing of physicians, cause many unnecessary 
deaths in the United States each year. 
(2) There are 98,000 preventable deaths that 
occur each year from medication errors in the 
United States. 
(3) According to a 2004 Health Grades report 
on patient safety in American hospitals, medication 
errors are the 6th leading cause of death among pa-
tients in hospitals in the United States. 
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTERIZED PROVIDER 
ORDER ENTRY TECHNOLOGY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, in consultation with the Administrator 
of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and with 
the National Health Information Technology Coordinator, 
may make grants to hospitals and skilled nursing facilities 
to carry out demonstration projects for the purpose of re-
ducing the rate of medication errors and improving the 
quality of care in the hospitals and skilled nursing facili-
ties by installing or upgrading computerized technology 
that assists in preventing such errors and that increases
the quality of care through capabilities such as the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Providing information on drug-allergy con-
traindications and interactions between drugs. 
(2) Ensuring that all drug orders are legible. 
(3) Providing physicians and other clinicians 
with a menu of medications, complete with default 
doses and a range of potential doses for each medi-
cation. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING DECISION-SUPPORT 
SOFTWARE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the com-
puter technology described in subsection (a) (re-
ferred to in this section as ‘‘CPOE technology’’), a 
grant may be made under such subsection only if the 
applicant involved agrees— 
(A) for grants made pursuant to sub-
section (l)(2)(A) to ensure that when the CPOE 
technology involved becomes operational, the 
software described in paragraph (2) has been 
installed for use with the CPOE technology; or 
(B) for a grant made pursuant to sub-
section (l)(2)(B) that is an initial grant referred 
to in such subsection, to ensure that such soft-
ware is installed for use with the CPOE tech-
nology not later than one year after the receipt 
of the initial grant under subsection (a). 
(2) DESCRIPTION
OF
SOFTWARE.—For pur-
poses of paragraph (1), the software described in 
this paragraph is computer software that assists 
physicians and clinicians who order prescription 
drugs and tests in making medication-related deci-
sions through functions such as the following: 
(A) Providing computerized advice regard-
ing drug doses, selection, duration, and fre-
quencies. 
(B) Performing drug-allergy checks, drug- 
laboratory-value checks, and checks on inter-
actions between drugs. 
(C) Providing reminders with respect to 
corollary orders or drug guidelines. 
(D) 
Incorporating 
patient-specific 
or 
pathogen-specific information. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS REGARDING ELECTRONIC MEDI-
CATION ADMINISTRATION RECORD.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant may be made under 
subsection (a) only if the applicant involved agrees— 
(A) for grants made pursuant to sub-
section (l)(2)(A) to ensure that when the CPOE 
technology involved becomes operational, the
software described in paragraph (2) has been 
installed for use with the CPOE technology; or 
(B) for a grant made pursuant to sub-
section (l)(2)(B) that is an initial grant referred 
to in such subsection, to ensure that such soft-
ware is installed for use with the CPOE tech-
nology not later than one year after the receipt 
of the initial grant under subsection (a). 
(2) DESCRIPTION
OF
SOFTWARE.—For pur-
poses of paragraph (1), the software described in 
this paragraph is software providing for an elec-
tronic record known as an electronic medication ad-
ministration record (also known as EMAR) and is a 
fully closed-loop medication process that, for the pa-
tient involved, electronically documents the specific 
drug, dosages, routes and times for the administra-
tion of medication, and acts as a scheduler by link-
ing to a pharmacy information system through a 
bar-code point-of-care system. 
(d) CERTAIN USES OF GRANT.—The purposes for 
which a grant under subsection (a) may be expended in-
clude the following: 
(1) Purchasing and installing CPOE tech-
nology.