N.Y. to Create Largest Electronic Medical Records Network

The New York Department of Health (DOH) and public-private partnership New York City-based New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) earlier this week presented a plan to create the country's largest network for electronic medical records.

The plan, submitted to the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, outlines a clear vision to spend $129 million in state and federal funds to build and implement a statewide medical records network that will serve hundreds of hospitals, thousands of medical practitioners and up to 20 million patients a year. Once completed, New York doctors anywhere in the state will have instant access to critical medical records of every patient, eliminating the confusion and vital time that often accompanies the sharing of medical records between different health care providers.

The proposed statewide network will link together several existing regional electronic medical record networks with new infrastructure and programming, and state agencies will set policies to govern the system's implementation and maintenance. Currently, health care providers can share some electronic records with certain neighboring medical institutions. The Statewide Health Information Network for NY (SHIN-NY) will allow patients and health care providers to have immediate access to histories, prescriptions, test results, medical analysis and diagnoses, and much more, anywhere in the state at any time.