By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse has joined former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in calling for better health care through computer technology.

In an opinion essay published in today's Washington Times, the bipartisan pair said the new president and Congress should make it a top priority to create a national electronic health care system during the next four years.

Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, led a sea-change in congressional politics by helping the GOP to take control of the House of Representatives in 1994 for the first time since the 1950s. In retirement, he has made a pet project of health care "IT'' -- or information technology -- often joining forces with Democrats. Gingrich has appeared, for example, with Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy to speak out for computerization of health records. Rhode Island Democrat Whitehouse has also made medical information technology a personal goal.

"Health IT should be what railroad tracks were for transportation 150 years ago: basic infrastructure,'' wrote Whitehouse and Gingrich. "A modernized, interconnected health system that electronically links patients, physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, public health agencies, payers and key emergency responders would allow all to share accurate, patient-protected information, and that will undoubtedly save lives and save money.''

They ticked off a number of problems in the current medical system, including high U.S. rates of infant mortality and obesity, poor efforts at preventing health problems, and a coming shortfall in Medicare and Medicaid financing that has ``catastrophic implications'' for the federal budget.

But the "first and foremost'' goal for medical reform must be "serious investment in health information technology,'' they wrote.