ME's new health care info network largest in country
The nation's largest statewide network to allow health care providers to share electronic health records was launched in Maine on Friday.
HealthInfoNet will link health care providers throughout the state and offer access to a wide database of patients' electronic medical records to offer better care and increase efficiencies. Delaware and Vermont are the only other states that have similar statewide networks in operation. "What happens right now is that each hospital or each physician office might have a separate information system and they don't talk to each other," says Eric Hartz, an oncologist and chief information officer at Eastern Maine Medical Center. "So HealthInfoNet provides that common link where we can send our info to the database just like Portland or other areas can, and then it comes back to us in a format we can use and incorporate into our own electronic medical record."
The current demonstration project includes the state's four largest hospital systems (Central Maine Health Care, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, MaineGeneral Medical Centers and MaineHealth), Martin's Point Health Care, Franklin Memorial Hospital and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a press release. The demonstration plan will run to mid-2010 and then expand to health care providers throughout the state. Once it expands, HealthInfoNet is expected to save roughly $50 million in health care costs annually as caregivers order fewer unnecessary and duplicative tests, procedures, prescriptions and hospital admissions.
The network will be funded with $1.7 million included in Maine's 2010-2011 budget and federal matching funds that are expected to be available later this year under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to the release. Roughly $8 million has been raised so far to build HealthInfoNet, with another $12 million needed to build out the statewide infrastructure. Once up and running, it's expected to cost approximately $6 million to operate HealthInfoNet on an annual basis.
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