Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Pileup of Health Care Paperwork Targeted

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan promised “to slash the red tape” that binds the health care industry to an inefficient and costly system of paper documentation. “Americans should go to the doctor to be cured of their illnesses, not be made sick by the paperwork,” he said after a forum on health care administrative costs. Sullivan said the forum of hospital and insurance company executives resulted in a commitment by the executives to limit their operating costs. The key point of their discussions centered on an ambitious goal of consolidating the industry’s disparate forms, claims and billing procedures into a computerized system.