Electronic Medical Records
The Missouri Department of Social Services has recently announced that plans for a statewide health information exchange have been completed. A health information exchange would use electronic medical records to make patient information easily accessible to multiple healthcare professionals over a secure network in the state of Missouri. The goal is to enable a statewide health information exchange between 2010-2015, and to achieve statewide adoption of electronic health records by 2015.
The Missouri Office of Health Information Technology (MO-HITECH) reports that the move to electronic medical records will improve healthcare quality and reduce costs. "Electronic health records connected through statewide health information exchange would allow a patient seeing a doctor in one part of the state to share or retrieve health information from a health care provider (e.g. hospital, lab, or surgeon) in another part of the state – instantly and accurately, to ensure timely and informed delivery of care."
This effort is being largely funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. $13.8 million in federal recovery funds has been granted to underwrite the planning and implementation process.
Learn more about electronic medical records from these reputable sources:
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
- Medicare
- MedlinePlus
- New England Journal of Medicine [pdf]
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