Plans Unveiled for Statewide Health Information Network

By Andrew Kitchenman Courtesy of NJ Spotlight

Increased use of electronic records promises to help improve heathcare – but it also poses many challenges. That was a key point as plans by a coalition of health organizations to build a statewide electronic information network were announced Thursday by state officials.

The goal is to create a single, secure network that will make it easier for providers to access their patients’ medical histories, information on medication allergies and lab test results, particularly when the patient has doctors who are not part of the same information-sharing organizations.

State Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd said state officials expect the $1.57 million New Jersey Health Information Network to begin operating in 2014.

More than 2,000 doctors will be able to use the network when it launches. State officials expressed hope that the network will make it easier for doctors to quickly access patient information currently stored by separate organizations.

“We anticipate that these members and these numbers will continue to grow over time, in particular as we see the expansion of the power of the exchange of this data, because they will not want to be left behind in the dust,” O’Dowd said. “Peer pressure is a very powerful force.”

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