IT powerhouses form interoperability consortium
EMR service organizations including Mayo Clinic, Geisinger Health System, Kaiser Permanente, Intermountain Healthcare and Group Health have established an interoperability consortium to exchange electronic health data, with the first data exchange slated to occur in the next year.
The group has created the Care Connectivity Consortium to pioneer the connectivity of electronic patient information using an approach that it claims will protect patient confidentiality. The consortium will utilize standards-based health IT to share data about patients electronically.
The goal is to demonstrate that effective and timely health information exchange using national IT standards is possible in a secure environment across geographies. If a patient from one system gets sick far from home and must receive healthcare in another system—or if any system sends patients to another—doctors and nurses at each of the participating health systems will be able to access information about the patient's medications, allergies and health conditions, the consortium stated.
The collective goal is to implement first-generation interoperability tools over the next year, the group added.
The group has created the Care Connectivity Consortium to pioneer the connectivity of electronic patient information using an approach that it claims will protect patient confidentiality. The consortium will utilize standards-based health IT to share data about patients electronically.
The goal is to demonstrate that effective and timely health information exchange using national IT standards is possible in a secure environment across geographies. If a patient from one system gets sick far from home and must receive healthcare in another system—or if any system sends patients to another—doctors and nurses at each of the participating health systems will be able to access information about the patient's medications, allergies and health conditions, the consortium stated.
The collective goal is to implement first-generation interoperability tools over the next year, the group added.