Local Healthcare Providers and Military exchange Electronic Health formation using latest HHS standards
PENSACOLA, Fla., November 15, 2009 - Thousands of active duty military personnel and their dependents receive medical care such as specialty consultations from local healthcare providers here every year. For the first time ever, this information can now be securely shared and accessed by civilian and military doctors caring for these patients. Using the latest technology standards developed for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, this project achieved groundbreaking results and actually connects the real patient information systems at the Naval Hospital Pensacola and civilian facilities such as Sacred Heart Health System and Baptist Health System. This working prototype is currently being tested and evaluated by select doctors and staff at the naval hospital in full production environment.
“We hope that this project will demonstrate the value of data sharing in elevating care to the folks that serve our country,” said Dr. Huy Nguyen – founder of Cogon Systems, Inc. who led the effort to build the system. The health information exchange represents a successful collaboration between the Department of Defense, a local consortium of healthcare providers (the Strategic Health Initiative sponsored by the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce) and leading edge information technology providers Cogon Systems, Inc. and CPS Healthcare. Using Cogon’s Virtual Health Network, local healthcare providers have access to patient information across the community, region and state. “Under the new Tricare contracts it will be the responsibilities of the individual Military Commands/Hospitals to maintain consult notes-thus the VHN will have a greater impact in assisting that process” said Nguyen
Cogon’s Virtual Health Network connects physicians and hospitals together based on the model of a public utility. So far over 30,000 shared patients have been automatically identified through a process that makes records available only for those patients that should be accessible because they have a patient-provider relationship with one or more providers or systems. Cogon expects close to 500,000 records being shared by early next year.