Consortium Launches MedsInfo-ED

MedsInfo-ED (Prescription History in the Emergency Department) is a new patient safety tool launched by the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium. The group is comprised of New England's key health care organizations, including Emerson Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Boston Medical Center. The purpose of the health information exchange project is to use Internet technology to make prescription history information more accurate and accessible to health care providers in hospital emergency departments.

The consortium recently received a $400,000 contract for the development of MedsInfo-ED from the Foundation for eHealth Initiative, through its Connecting Communities for Better Health program. MedsInfo-ED was created to address the types of errors detailed in the Institute of Medicine's study To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, using clinical data exchange.

National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David J. Brailer, MD, PhD, hailed the project as taking swift action to help advance Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson's 10-year plan to transform the delivery of health care. "Within 90 days of its contract award, the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium has responded to Secretary Thompson's call to action to adopt health information technology by moving aggressively to implement a local patient safety initiative that will improve the quality of care patients receive in emergency rooms across the New England area."