Legislation offers loans for electronic records

A bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would make more small business loans available to dentists for electronic health records.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), specifically instructs the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee loans to health care practitioners, including dentists, so they can digitalize their patients' charts.

It specifically excludes "information technology whose sole use is financial management, maintenance of inventory of basic supplies, or appointment scheduling."

It allows the SBA to guarantee up to 90% of the loan, with a cap of $350,000 for a sole practitioner and $2 million for a group practice. It bars most types of financing costs for the lender. The SBA is authorized to guarantee up to $10 billion through this program.

Depending on their circumstances, dentists might also benefit from other provisions of the bill that make more money available for small business loans.

The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate.