May 14, 2004
Connected Healthcare
A number of facilities and communities begin the process toward a creation of a larger national health information infrastructure. Santa Barbara County and several other communities this summer begin the connected EMR. The point of the data exchange will let hospitals, clinics, payers and laboratories exchange information on a central, peer-to-peer networking system that operates in much the same way as online music sharing service Napster. Authorized users, including patients, can access clinical records. The project began in 1998 with the help of CareScience, a unit of software company Quovadx, and a $10 million grant from the California HealthCare Foundation. The system will have its official launch in July.
A similar effort is underway to create a community-wide data sharing system in San Diego. That project, led by the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation, started more than one year ago and will officially launch in June. It will provide a common platform to deliver medical information that providers can readily access. Currently, the system contains alerts on disease outbreaks, a directory of health services from the San Diego County Department of Public Health and formulary, eligibility and benefit information from health plans. Eventually, the network will feature hospital data, lab results, pharmacy data, X-rays and data from doctors' offices. It's also possible that patients who are authorized by their physicians could obtain a password to access their records.
Posted by rsk at May 14, 2004 11:33 PM