Massachusetts Health Data Consortium Announces the Launch of MedsInfo-ED

["Ed Dodds" <dodds@e-dodds.com>]

Title: Message

October 27, 2004 09:01 AM US Eastern Timezone

New Patient Prescription Safety Tool Brings Electronic Health Information Exchange to Area Hospitals

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 2004--The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC), a convener of New England's key healthcare organizations, today announced the launch of a new patient safety tool called MedsInfo-ED (Prescription History in the Emergency Department). The goal of this electronic health information exchange project is to use Internet technology to make patient prescription history information more accurate and accessible to healthcare providers in hospital emergency departments. MedsInfo-ED supplements the information that patients verbally provide to the emergency department staff.

The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium recently received a $400,000 contract for the development of MedsInfo-ED from the Foundation for eHealth Initiative, through its Connecting Communities for Better Health (CCBH) program. The award is a direct result of a national emphasis on local efforts to support interoperable, electronic health information which President Bush and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Tommy Thompson called for earlier this year. This contract will be matched by MHDC members.

"We, at the eHealth Initiative, are very excited about the Consortium's new patient safety tool," said Janet M. Marchibroda, Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative, and Executive Director of the Foundation for eHealth Initiative. "The MHDC's work on this project is a great example of the key role communities play in advancing an interconnected, interoperable health information infrastructure that leads to better care."

The New National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, David J. Brailer, M.D. Ph. D., hails the project as taking immediate action steps to help advance Secretary Thompson's 10-year plan to transform the delivery of healthcare.

"Within 90 days of its contract award, The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium has responded to Secretary Thompson's call to action to adopt health information technology by moving aggressively to implement a local patient safety initiative that will improve the quality of care patient's receive in emergency rooms across the New England area."

Primary Pilot Sites:

Three Massachusetts hospitals are piloting MedsInfo-ED including: Emerson Hospital, Concord, MA, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston Medical Center (BMC), Boston, MA. The hospitals represent medical teaching and community based facilities, with a combined volume of approximately 14,000 emergency patients per month. Emerson Hospital is the first hospital to launch MedsInfo-ED in the emergency department.

The initial sources for prescription history data include: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Group Insurance Commission (Massachusetts state employees and retirees), Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, MassHealth (Medicaid), Neighborhood Health Plan and Tufts Health Plan.

Alan Woodward, M.D., chief of emergency medicine at Emerson Hospital, is enthusiastic about the new system. "Anyone who works in an emergency department will agree that this is the kind of information needed to provide our patients with the best possible care," says Woodward, who currently serves as president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. "There is no question that MedsInfo-ED helps to address the important goal of enhancing patient safety and reducing medical errors."

"The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium is thrilled to pioneer this clinical connectivity project locally in Massachusetts," said Gordon C. Vineyard, M.D., President and Chairman of the Board, MHDC. "The value of MedsInfo-ED will be measured by improved outcomes, efficient workflow, ultimately lower total costs of care and reduced errors."

MedsInfo-ED was developed to address the type of errors that were described in the Institute of Medicine Report's landmark study "To Err is Human," using clinical data exchange. As many as 98,000 patients die each year nationally, as a result of medical errors that could have been prevented, according to the study.

MedsInfo-ED is a project of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium's MA-SHARE Program (Simplifying Healthcare Among Regional Entities), launched last year by the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium's CIO Forum. The CIO Forum includes 47 information technology leaders from health plans, hospitals, government agencies and information technology suppliers throughout Massachusetts. The MA-SHARE program is presently funded by a cornerstone grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and has additional funding from Fallon Community Health Plan, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Neighborhood Health Plan, Partners HealthCare System, Tufts Health Plan and the Massachusetts Medical Society.

"MA-SHARE works to facilitate and develop regional collaborative projects for accurate, efficient, safe and cost effective inter-organizational exchange of healthcare data using information technology and national standards," said Elliot Stone, CEO, Massachusetts Health Data Consortium.

The MedsInfo-ED project is sponsored by the Alliance for Health Care Improvement, a collaboration of medical directors from six Massachusetts-based health plans.

"The health plans are pleased to support the development of this critical project to foster electronic health information exchange. MedsInfo-ED will leverage all payer pharmacy data and technology integration to enhance care and make improvements to the current system of healthcare delivery in the Commonwealth," said Roberta Herman, M.D., current President, Alliance for Health Care Improvement and Chief Medical Officer, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Additionally, the MedsInfo-ED project is managed by an 11 member oversight committee.

Information technology support for the MedsInfo-ED project is provided by Zix Corporation (www.zixcorp.com), Computer Sciences Corporation (www.csc.com), Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (www.harvardpilgrim.org), MassHealth via Medicaid (www.massgov.com) RxHub (www.rxhub.net), Caremark (www.caremark.com) and Express Scripts (www.express-scripts.com).

All legal and regulatory issues to release this prescription history information have been satisfied.

About the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC):

The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium was founded in 1978 by the state's major public and private healthcare organizations to serve as a neutral agency to collect, analyze and disseminate health care information. In 1995, Elliot M. Stone, the Consortium's CEO, helped found the Affiliated Health Information Networks of New England project, currently consisting of the chief information officers of 37 healthcare organizations and 10 information technology companies/consultants "to improve the region's health care information infrastructure by fostering the growth of a variety of health information networks, building on systems already in place, while encouraging collaboration and standardization among a network of networks." In 2003, the Consortium created MA-SHARE, LLC to oversee the implementation of community projects for both administrative simplification and clinical data exchange. For more information, visit http://www.mahealthdata.org/ma-share/projects/medsinfo.html.

 

Ed Dodds
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