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Health Care: Government Pilots Kick Off for Health Record Sharing Project
This month the federal government launched a pilot in Minnesota and Rhode Island for the sharing of electronic health records via the internet. The pilot is being called “the Direct Project“. The pilot will expand next into New York, California, and Tennessee, and then later into Connecticut, Texas, and Oklahoma.
The Direct Project defines a messaging protocol for the secure exchange of information between healthcare providers and between providers and patients. The network will interconnect physicians, hospitals, labs, health information exchanges, and state health departments. Basic clinical information, referrals and health care summaries will be able to be securely sent via the internet using the Direct Project, replacing mail and fax transmission of patient data.
Using the Direct Project protocol, the Minnesota’s premier Level 1 Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) has been successfully sending immunization records to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) since January. James Golden, Minnesota’s state HIT coordinator, commented that “this demonstrates the success that is possible through public-private collaborations. This is an important milestone for Minnesota and a key step toward the seamless electronic movement of information to improve care and public health.”
More than 60 companies and organization have contributed to work on the Direct Project. The pilot project for health care data exchange will run through the end of 2011. A formal adoption of the Direct Project as a standard and the availability of it for use common use by providers isn’t expected until some time in 2012.
Other projects and pilots coming up later this year include:
- In Tennessee, a project with the Veteran’s Administration and local hospitals to provide better care to veterans
- In New York, a project to link clinicians, hospital and ambulatory care settings, and EHR vendors.
- In Connecticut, a project to link patients, hospitals, labs, and ambulatory care settings
- In Oklahoma, a pilot that expands on their existing program for sharing immunization data
- In California, a pilot to connect r patients, hospitals and ambulatory care in a rural location
- In South Texas, a pilot for hospitals, ambulatory care settings, public health and community health organizations to share data with diabetic mothers and their newborns.
