Milwaukee takes another step in electronic patient data exchange

Milwaukee, Wis. - There are many obstacles to the full electronic exchange of patient data between healthcare organizations, but there is little doubt that one of the best places to start is the emergency room.

Metropolitan Milwaukee healthcare providers took an initial step toward providing emergency room physicians with specific patient information with the formal establishment of the Emergency Department Linking Project, which is tied to the broader adoption of electronic medical records.

Hospitals are working toward providing basic information, including a patient's most recent medications and medical tests, to doctors who often have no information on the history of patients that are taken to the “ER,” many of them in life-threatening health events.

The system, one of the first steps of the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange, will be tested this year at three facilities before a broader system is developed in stages throughout Milwaukee County. The system gradually will be expanded both in terms of the data provided, and the number of facilities involved.

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