SANTA BARBARA: Collaboration Leads to Launch of Data Exchange
Community leaders and health care providers in Santa Barbara County "got a glimpse of the future of health care" Thursday when they were introduced to the county's Care Data Exchange. The collaboration, financed by a $10 million grant from the California HealthCare Foundation, aims to meet "the needs of consumers, physicians and health care organizations" through lower costs and improved medical care. Area providers are hoping they can reduce costs and improve medical care by cooperating on an Internet-based care data utility for the sharing and application of clinical data. Doctors will have access to clinical data and information products, and will be given CareStandard certification, provided by CareScience, Inc., to ensure security of data. Chief Information Officer of the foundation Sam Karp said his group's "investment reflects a vision of health care in the future." He added, "While there is great expectation that the quality and efficacy of health care can be improved using Internet technologies, that promise has not yet been demonstrated. This project and its community-wide participation offers an exciting real world test." Click here to access the database or type www.carestandard.com into your browser (Santa Barbara County Health Care Providers release, 3/17).
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