The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
Doctors Agree: nObama's Electronic Medical Records Mandate Sucks!
Michelle Malki
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"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
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'What Is Your Biggest Weakness?' 
"What is your biggest weakness and what are you doing to address it?" That was the first of many hostile, biased, personally insulting and just plain stupid questions the 11 Republican candidates fielded from the moderators in the debate last night. Has there ever been a debate in which the moderators behaved so poorly?
Indeed, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla's opening question could be turned around on the moderators. He, Becky Quick and John Harwood didn't even attempt to conceal their contempt for the candidates on stage, and they ended up making themselves the story. Perhaps that's to be expected when, for the last 30 years, conservatives have increasing cried "foul" on Left media bias, and the general public no longer trusts the press. The moderators seemed to have concluded they needn't bother feigning objectivity, opting to move on with their Democrat activism. No wonder the audience booed them.
On the flip side, the moderators' petulant bias prompted some great moments from the candidates who rejected the premise of the questions and turned their fire toward Democrats. Three candidates did particularly well in this department: Chris Christie, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
Right off the bat, Christie parried the "weakness" question by pointing to Democrats. "I don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly," he said. "Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which." -The Patriot Post
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Promoting American Interest
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House Elects Ryan as Next Speaker By 10:35 this morning, enough House members voted for Rep. Paul Ryan in a roll call vote that his rise to speakership was sure. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers made Ryan's nomination to the chamber, calling him, in the words of the Washington Times a "budget whiz." The day before, 200 House Republicans nominated Ryan to lead their fractured caucus. Ryan needs 218 votes in the House to become the chamber's 54th speaker. "This begins a new day in the House of Representatives," Ryan said after his nomination. "Tomorrow, we are turning the page. We are not going to have a House that looked like it looked the last few years." Criticisms of Ryan began to fly even before he was nominated. In his last moves as speaker, backstabber-John Boehner negotiated with the nObama administration a budget that will keep the government running until March 2017. And while Ryan criticized backstabber-Boehner's methodology — it's "not the way to do the people's business," he said — he ultimately supported backstabber-Boehner's budget. We just hope this isn't a sign that the 'clean slate' Ryan is inheriting will soon have backstabber-'Boehner Jr.' written all over it. For the present, we can give Ryan time to unpack his desk and figure out his leadership style. Let's not label him the enemy of Liberty before he's even taken up the gavel. -The Patriot Post
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Promoting American Interest
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Mixed Bag in Tepid GDP Growth
The rate at which the nation's gross domestic product grew in the third quarter failed to reach even pessimistic estimates made ahead of the Commerce Department's announcement. Economists predicated the economy would grow only 1.6% from July to September. Instead, the economy grew an anemic 1.5%. Contrast this with the second quarter, where GDP grew at a 3.9% rate.
Yet while the GDP number sounds dismal, other economic indicators have economists thinking the economy has signs of life. "Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, grew at a 3.2 percent rate after expanding at a 3.6 percent pace in the second quarter," Reuters reported. For example, Market Watch said Americans are spending more on new vehicles, indicating some confidence in the economy. Furthermore, the dollar remains strong and inflation is low. The reason why GDP underperformed was because large companies paused in creating products to export. It could indicate a slowdown of the wider economy, as Americans get up on their feet, but the world out there contains unrest.
No word yet on how the Federal Reserve will take the news. This week, it decided once again not to raise interest rates, pushing off that decision until December. "Chair Janet Yellen and other members keep saying that it will soon be time to move, but each time as the date approaches they find another reason not to move," The Wall Street Journal opined. "Perhaps they're afraid of taking responsibility for the consequences of raising rates if the economy turns south. At least if they stay at zero the Fed won't be blamed for having done nothing." -The Patriot Post
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Promoting American Interest
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It's Time To Take Less Interest in School Tests
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal standardized test that has measured student performance since 1990, recorded a drop in students' academic ability this year. The "Nation's Report Card" found, "The 2015 average [mathematics] scores were 1 and 2 points lower in grades 4 and 8, respectively, than the average scores in 2013." Thanks, nObama. Seriously — Common Core is part of the problem here, as the educational change disrupted students and teachers alike. But it's not just about test scores, it's that kids in public schools are learning less and less while we spend more and more. Democrat solution: Spend even more money. Every. Time. They also cut vital classes such as shop and home economics and replaced them with a drive to send every graduate to college.
The problem with tests was not lost on Barack nObama Saturday, when he called for schools to reduce the number of tests students take because it ultimately cuts into the amount of time students have to learn. "I hear from parents who rightly worry about too much testing," nObama said, "and from teachers who feel so much pressure to teach to a test that it takes the joy out of teaching and learning both for them and for the students. I want to fix that." It's a noble gesture, but this large, centralized government uses tests to make many decisions about education policy, such as determining teacher performance. Unfortunately, they aren't going away anytime soon. -The Patriot Post
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Promoting American Interest
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Israeli Minister Meets Russian FM to Lay Out Israel’s Red Lines
{algemeiner.com} ~ Israel’s Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Strategic Affairs and Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin laid out Israel’s red lines in Syria in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday, Israeli nrg news reported... The Israeli minister, according to the report, relayed to Lavrov Israel’s three main concerns: preventing the flow of weapons to the terrorist group Hezbollah, maintaining a quiet border in the Golan Heights and upholding the ban on the use of chemical weapons. While the meeting was scheduled in advance to discuss economic issues, ultimately it ended up happening a day before Russia headed to international talks on the Syrian war on Friday and Saturday. The Israelis used Elkin’s trip as a chance to lay out their concerns..
"Liberal" Justices Creating Rights, Leading U.S. to "Destruction"
{Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.} ~ Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told a crowd at Santa Clara University that the “liberal” Supreme Court was causing the “destruction of our democratic system,” the SF Gate reported on October 29... According to the outspoken associate justice, his colleagues on the high court are creating rights ex nihilo and claiming the Constitution protects those new rights. Scalia identified the adoption of the concept of the “living Constitution” as the first step down a “slippery slope.” At the end of that slope, Scalia said, was “the right to same-sex marriage.” He even questioned whether the Constitution ever would have been ratified had the Founders known that the document they drafted would have become “whatever a majority of the Supreme Court says it is.” Rather than conforming the case to the Constitution, a majority of the justices conform the Constitution to the case, voting, Scalia says, “on the basis of what they feel.” http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/21860-scalia-liberal-justices-creating-rights-leading-us-to-destruction?utm_content=Rudy%20Tirre&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Scalia%3A%20Liberal%26nbsp%3BJustices%20Creating%20Rights%2C%20Leading%20U%2ES%2E%20to%20Destruction&utm_campaign=SPLC%20Unhinged%3A%20Almost%20Everyone%20Is%20a%20%E2%80%9CConspiracy%20Theorist%E2%80%9Dcontent.
SPLC Unhinged: Almost Everyone Is a “Conspiracy Theorist”
{Alex Newman} ~ Quick, do something! There are John Birch Society types ready to spread “conspiracy theories” from the “margins” into the “mainstream,” and they seem to be hiding under practically every bed in America!... At least that's the impression given in a new “intelligence report” by the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization whose slanderous vitriol against conservatives and Christians was recently implicated in federal court in a recent terrorism case. In its report the SPLC reputedly aims to expose false conspiracy theories that are being churned out by right-wing radicals. But, ironically, while expressing outrage over “conspiracy theories” on the “right,” the SPLC report sounded like an expanded version of Hilly Clinton's bizarre conspiracy theory about a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” To hear the SPLC tell it, practically everyone in America to the right of nObama is participating in a giant conspiracy to spread conspiracy theories. For what purpose is never explained, although apparently it is all very bad for “democracy.” Though the SPLC clings to a mantle of respectability given to it for claiming to right wrongs, the mainstream American Family Association has labeled the SPLC an “anti-Christian hate group.” Meawhile civil rights attorney and Southern Center for Human Rights President Stephen Bright, echoing investigations and a federal judge, blasted SPLC founder Morris Dees as a "con man and fraud" who exploits naive poor people to enrich himself. In keeping with critics' accusations against the SPLC, the intelligence report reads like it's based on either a fevered imagination or blatant deception, driven by hate against those with whom it disagrees. So far, though, the report has been largely ignored. http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/21862-splc-unhinged-almost-everyone-is-a-conspiracy-theorist?utm_content=Rudy%20Tirre&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=SPLC%20Unhinged%3A%20Almost%20Everyone%20Is%20a%20%26ldquo%3BConspiracy%20Theorist%26rdquo%3B&utm_campaign=SPLC%20Unhinged%3A%20Almost%20Everyone%20Is%20a%20%E2%80%9CConspiracy%20Theorist%E2%80%9Dcontent
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Al Qaeda Calling the Shots at Gitmo
{totalconservative.com} ~ According to Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, the terrorists responsible for planning September 11th are calling the shots at their place of imprisonment: Guantanamo Bay... After visiting the prison last week, Ayotte was stunned to learn that female soldiers are not allowed to transport inmates because it offends the murderous Muslims. “We have a situation down there where we met with women guards who are being prevented from fully performing their mission because the five 9/11 attackers who are charged with killing 3,000 Americans will not allow them to perform their duties because they’re women,” Ayotte said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday. “It’s outrageous,” said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford. But he admitted there was little he could do about it. “That’s being worked by lawyers, it’s an injunction. I’m not using that as an excuse, but that’s where it is right now.” He’s right. The situation is what it is because the Gitmo terrorists complained that it was insulting to their faith to have to follow women around the prison. These complaints led Army Col. James Pohl, a military judge, to issue an order prohibiting female guards from transporting the men to and from their legal proceedings.
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Enough Of The nObama Lies And Manipulation – We’re Under Attack
{rickwells.us} ~ I deviated a little, more like a lot, from my normal customary written words in this video response to the ever-increasing, encroaching threat of the Marxists in power and the upcoming trip down the river they’ve got planned for us in Paris, at the Climate Con-Job confab 2015 in December... Everything about nObama’s message is world this and global that, equating being an American to a responsibility to the rest of the world. Let’s be clear, I don’t have any responsibility to the rest of the world and this phony “president” doesn’t either – his supposedly loyalty is to the United States, not the United Nations. The points are structured around the weekly insult he delivered last week, one which, typically, was focused on his claims that we have no choice but to accept his climate lies, fall as subjects under the UN, and donate everything we have to the poor of the world, accepting our new role as slaves with the enthusiasm of a Korean Moonie..
What’s The Hurry? Senator Sessions On Ryan’s Pelosi-Style...
{rickwells.us} ~ It was entirely predictable that the last act of Speaker backstabber-John Boehner and the first act of Speaker Paul Ryan would be a seamless continuation of the assault on the American people; that‘s what Congress does these days... It’s also no surprise that the assault included a capitulation to the wishes of the anti-American tyrant in the White House, for the same reasons. The power of the purse is being discarded for the remainder of the Hussein nObama nightmare, as is any pretense of financial responsibility in a deal which Senator Jeff Sessions has discovered looks remarkably similar to one co-authored by Paul Ryan back in 2013. The wolves aren’t just guarding the hen house, they’ve taken it over. It’s a complete abdication of responsibility and duty to their constituents, one which Sessions reminds his Congressional counterparts there is no need to rush to complete. He reminds them of their duty, something they seem to have forgotten, to the people of the nation. On Tuesday Sessions wrote:.
Number of Hilly Emails Marked Classified to Rise to At Least 600
{Morgan Chalfant} ~ The count of Hilly Clinton’s work emails now deemed classified will rise to 600 or 700 when the State Department releases its next batch of emails to the public Friday... Politico reported that the latest trove of work-related emails from Clinton’s personal server contains between 200 and 300 messages now marked with the lowest classification designation. About 7,000 pages of emails will be made public in the release. State Department spokesman John Kirby said that none of the emails now marked classified “were marked classified at the time they were sent or received.” Most of the emails set for release Friday were sent or received by the former secretary of state between 2011 and 2012, save a few from 2009 and 2010 that haven’t been made public in earlier releases. The release of Clinton emails in September saw 215 messages marked classified, three of them designated “secret.”.
nObama’s Middle East Insanity And European Invasion
{rickwells.us} ~ Hussein nObama is quite adept at delivering meaningless, inconsequential and at best symbolic actions at the worst possible times, when the exact opposite is needed... At a minimum his pathetic lack of leadership skills and probably much more intentionally inflicted shortcomings can be credited with the explosive growth of ISIS, as well as a catastrophic event soon associating itself with virtually anything his unclean hands come into contact with. Lt Col Allen West is offers his views on two issues, the decision to send fifty Special Ops forces into Syria and the Islamic invasion of Europe. He’s asked if it’s the start of something more. West notes that “There have been a lot of really dumb things that the nObama administration has done, this ranks right up there. To say that you’re going to send fifty Special Operators into Syria, a Syria where you have Russia that is operating with ground troops and also air cover, Cuba Special Operations Forces, Iranian Quds Forces and also Hezbollah, and you’re just going to send fifty Special Operators in to fight against ISIS. This is insane. And if this is part of what the nObama administration wants to do, this is mission creep.”.
Government by Intimidation: Identifying the Real Terrorists!
{BRADLEE DEAN} ~ As another self-incriminating video has surfaced exposing Planned Parenthood’s crimes against humanity (1 John 3:12), one has only to ask themselves, why is the Department of (In)Justice appointed to hunt down those who are filming the crimes of Planned Parenthood rather than arrest those who are committing the crimes?... There is no coercion. The truth is coming out of the abundance of their wicked hearts (Matthew 12:34), and furthermore, “Planned Parenthood” has made their murderous position very clear through their founder Margaret Sanger. On blacks, immigrants and indigents, Sanger said that they are “…human weeds, reckless breeders, spawning….human beings who should never been born.” http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/10/government-by-intimidation-identifying-the-real-terrorists/.
Justice Kennedy to Christians: Resign or Uphold the Law
{Paul Bois} ~ Justice Anthony Kennedy feels that if faithful Christians don't like his usurping of their rights to define marriage as between one man and one woman, then they should just quit their jobs if they happen to hold public office... In other words: "I am King, now do what I say or else."... Speaking to an audience of Harvard law school students Wednesday, Justice Kennedy was asked if public officials who disagree with same-sex marriage or abortion should comply with the law if they hold public office, to which he replied "no" and declared that those officials should quit their jobs instead. It would've been interesting to see him squirm had the question gone something like this: "Justice Kennedy, what should Christians do if their wishes to define marriage as between one man and one woman are completely usurped from them by an unelected official who thinks he can legislate from the bench?" But since his audience consisted most likely of left-wing elitists who admire Justice Kennedy for upholding abortion rights and sanctioning nationwide same-sex marriage, no such question was asked. .
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Doctors Agree: nObama's Electronic Medical Records Mandate Sucks!
Michelle Malkin
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For the past several years, medical professionals have warned that the federal electronic medical records mandate -- buried in the trillion-dollar nObama stimulus of 2009 -- would do more harm than good. Their diagnosis, unfortunately, is on the nose.
For the past several years, medical professionals have warned that the federal electronic medical records mandate -- buried in the trillion-dollar nObama stimulus of 2009 -- would do more harm than good. Their diagnosis, unfortunately, is on the nose.
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The Quack-in-Chief peddled his tech-centric elixir as a cost-saving miracle. "This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests," he crowed at the time. In theory, of course, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, which many private health care providers had already adopted before the Healer of All Things took office.
The Quack-in-Chief peddled his tech-centric elixir as a cost-saving miracle. "This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests," he crowed at the time. In theory, of course, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, which many private health care providers had already adopted before the Healer of All Things took office.
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But in the clumsy, power-grabbing hands of Washington bureaucrats, nObama's one-size-fits-all EMR regulations have morphed into what one expert called "healthcare information technology's version of cash-for-clunkers."
But in the clumsy, power-grabbing hands of Washington bureaucrats, nObama's one-size-fits-all EMR regulations have morphed into what one expert called "healthcare information technology's version of cash-for-clunkers."
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I reported in 2012 how my own primary care physician quit her regular practice and converted to "concierge care" because of the meddlesome EMR burden. Untold numbers of docs across the country have done the same.
I reported in 2012 how my own primary care physician quit her regular practice and converted to "concierge care" because of the meddlesome EMR burden. Untold numbers of docs across the country have done the same.
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In 2013, health care analysts at the RAND Corporation admitted that their cost-savings predictions of $81 billion a year were vastly inflated.
In 2013, health care analysts at the RAND Corporation admitted that their cost-savings predictions of $81 billion a year were vastly inflated.
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In 2014, RAND researchers interviewed doctors who spotlighted "important negative effects" of the EMR mandate on "their professional lives and, in some troubling ways, on patient care. They described poor EHR usability that did not match clinical workflows, time-consuming data entry, interference with face-to-face patient care, and overwhelming numbers of electronic messages and alerts."
In 2014, RAND researchers interviewed doctors who spotlighted "important negative effects" of the EMR mandate on "their professional lives and, in some troubling ways, on patient care. They described poor EHR usability that did not match clinical workflows, time-consuming data entry, interference with face-to-face patient care, and overwhelming numbers of electronic messages and alerts."
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And the hits keep coming.
And the hits keep coming.
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Robert Wachter, author of the recently published "The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age," chronicled the damage he's witnessed: "Physicians retiring early. Small practices bankrupted by up-front expenses or locked into ineffective systems by the prohibitive cost of switching. Hours consumed by onerous data entry unrelated to patient care. Workflow disruptions. And above all, massive intrusions on our patient relationships."
Robert Wachter, author of the recently published "The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age," chronicled the damage he's witnessed: "Physicians retiring early. Small practices bankrupted by up-front expenses or locked into ineffective systems by the prohibitive cost of switching. Hours consumed by onerous data entry unrelated to patient care. Workflow disruptions. And above all, massive intrusions on our patient relationships."
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The American Medical Association, which foolishly backed nObamacare, is now balking at top-down government intrusion into their profession. Better late than never. The group launched a campaign called "Break the Red Tape" this summer to pressure D.C. to pause the new medical-record rules as an estimated 250,000 physicians face fines totaling $200 million a year for failing to comply with "meaningful use" EMR requirements.
The American Medical Association, which foolishly backed nObamacare, is now balking at top-down government intrusion into their profession. Better late than never. The group launched a campaign called "Break the Red Tape" this summer to pressure D.C. to pause the new medical-record rules as an estimated 250,000 physicians face fines totaling $200 million a year for failing to comply with "meaningful use" EMR requirements.
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In Massachusetts last month, physicians decried the failure to achieve true "interoperability" between EMR systems despite a $30 billion federal investment through the nObama stimulus. Dr. Dennis Dimitri, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, noted at a rancor-filled town hall that the mandate has "added significant time to the daily life of most physicians in their practices," WBUR reported. "It has not necessarily lived up to expectations in terms of its ability to provide cues to physicians to make sure that necessary treatments are not being missed. It has certainly not been able to swiftly disseminate information from one clinical setting to another."
In Massachusetts last month, physicians decried the failure to achieve true "interoperability" between EMR systems despite a $30 billion federal investment through the nObama stimulus. Dr. Dennis Dimitri, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, noted at a rancor-filled town hall that the mandate has "added significant time to the daily life of most physicians in their practices," WBUR reported. "It has not necessarily lived up to expectations in terms of its ability to provide cues to physicians to make sure that necessary treatments are not being missed. It has certainly not been able to swiftly disseminate information from one clinical setting to another."
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That's in no small part due to the cronyism embedded in the federal stimulus "incentives" -- a massive chunk of which the White House doled out to behemoth EMR company Epic Systems, headed by nObama crony Judith Faulkner. As I've noted repeatedly in this column the past three years, Epic continues to be plagued by both industry and provider complaints about its creaky, closed-end system and exorbitant fee structure to enable the very kind of interoperability the nObama EMR mandate was supposed to ensure.
That's in no small part due to the cronyism embedded in the federal stimulus "incentives" -- a massive chunk of which the White House doled out to behemoth EMR company Epic Systems, headed by nObama crony Judith Faulkner. As I've noted repeatedly in this column the past three years, Epic continues to be plagued by both industry and provider complaints about its creaky, closed-end system and exorbitant fee structure to enable the very kind of interoperability the nObama EMR mandate was supposed to ensure.
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Now, even left-wing Mother Jones magazine reports this week that "instead of ushering in a new age of secure and easily accessible medical files, Epic has helped create a fragmented system that leaves doctors unable to trade information across practices or hospitals. That hurts patients who can't be assured that their records -- drug allergies, test results, X-rays -- will be available to the doctors who need to see them. This is especially important for patients with lengthy and complicated health histories."
Now, even left-wing Mother Jones magazine reports this week that "instead of ushering in a new age of secure and easily accessible medical files, Epic has helped create a fragmented system that leaves doctors unable to trade information across practices or hospitals. That hurts patients who can't be assured that their records -- drug allergies, test results, X-rays -- will be available to the doctors who need to see them. This is especially important for patients with lengthy and complicated health histories."
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The nObama White House has responded by doubling down on its destructive EMR rules that punish both patients and providers. Congress must intervene. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced a bill Thursday to repeal the draconian penalties "so that providers can get back to the business they are uniquely trained to do -- utilizing their skills and knowledge to heal the sick and support the continued vitality of the healthy."
The nObama White House has responded by doubling down on its destructive EMR rules that punish both patients and providers. Congress must intervene. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced a bill Thursday to repeal the draconian penalties "so that providers can get back to the business they are uniquely trained to do -- utilizing their skills and knowledge to heal the sick and support the continued vitality of the healthy."
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Prescription: Butt out, Washington. Primum non nocere.
Prescription: Butt out, Washington. Primum non nocere.
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