Legislation to establish a loan program to help Louisiana health care providers move to an electronic medical records system cleared a House panel Thursday.

The Health and Welfare Committee signed off on Senate Bill 246 sponsored by state Sen. Sherri Cheek, R-Keithville, and shipped it to the House floor for final legislative passage.

Bunkie physician Don Hines, the former state Senate president, told the panel that the proposed state budget contains $5 million to help expand medical records technology into hospitals, physicians offices and health clinics.

The $5 million will be used as seed money to start a loan program that will allow state health care providers to get a head start on the technology upgrade before it is mandated, said Hines who is working on technology upgrades for rural hospitals.