San Diego Medical Society Foundation Seeks Funding for Health Data Exchange
The San Diego County Medical Society Foundation is asking hospitals, health insurers and other stakeholders to help establish and fund an electronic data exchange system, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The proposed data exchange network would connect existing systems throughout the region. Health care providers would need patients' permission to access their health records.
The medical society did not give an exact price for the data exchange network. However, Sun Microsystems, with which the foundation recently contracted to create a data exchange system, estimates that a system will cost less than $3 million.
The medical society has paid the first $100,000, and health care entities in the next three months are expected to make a decision about funding the project, the Union-Tribune reports.
Linda Kloss, CEO of the American Health Information Management Association, said that similar systems are in place in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz counties but that few systems exist in large urban areas such as San Diego (Skidmore, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/23).