This new exchange is hoped to improve the quality of medical care, reduce costs and medical errors and empower citizens to take a more active role in their own health care.
Missouri has completed its strategic and operational plans for statewide health information exchange, for which it is receiving federal funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Missouri has access to about $13.8 million in federal recovery funds to underwrite the planning and implementation process. These funds are in addition to incentives available to providers who adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records.
Those plans were developed over the past nine months through a series of meetings of more than 200 stakeholders from across the state including health care providers, privacy experts, insurers, employers, state legislators and consumer advocates. The process was led by a public-private advisory board appointed by Governor Jay Nixon in the fall of 2009 and led by Department of Social Services Director Ron Levy and Co-Chair Barrett Toan.
Included in the plans is the recommendation that statewide health information exchange be governed by a new, public-private not-for-profit organization, called the Missouri Statewide Health Information Organization (HIO).
At its first meeting in July, the board will begin a search for a president and key staff for the Missouri Statewide HIO. The board is also expected to issue a request for proposal this summer for technical services to build a statewide health information exchange network.
According to the Missouri Department of Social Services, the use of electronic health records and the secure exchange of health information will improve health care quality and safety and reduce healthcare costs by:
- Making health information available to authorized health care providers wherever and whenever a patient gets care, improving the coordination and continuity of care and promoting informed decision-making.
- Giving consumers more complete and accurate information to inform decision-making about their own health care.
- Reducing preventable medical errors and avoiding duplication of treatments and procedures.
- Lowering administrative costs and reducing clerical errors.
- Enhancing research by facilitating the collection of de-identified data to evaluate promising medical techniques, devices and drugs.
- Reducing the time it takes to bring safe, effective products and practices to the marketplace.
---
Quelle/Source: St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 13.07.2010
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
