Ten states have partnered on an initiative to ensure that health records of displaced patients would be accessible to other providers following a widespread disaster, HHS announced.
Working with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, health information exchanges in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia have partnered to allow for easy exchange of health records.
"Through disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy and large tornadoes in Alabama and Joplin, Mo., in 2011 and more recently in Moore, Okla., we have learned the importance of protecting patients' health records through electronic tools like HIEs," said Farzad Mostashari, MD, national coordinator for health IT, in a news release. "Patients are better off when states and health information exchange organizations work together to ensure that health information can follow patients when they need it the most."
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