On Tuesday, Massachusetts launched its statewide health information exchange, the Boston Business Journal reports (Donnelly, Boston Business Journal, 10/15).
About the Exchange
In August, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) announced that CMS had approved a $16.9 million grant to help the state build its health data exchange.
The funds came from the 2009 federal economic stimulus package and Medicaid (iHealthBeat, 8/6).
Launch Details
During a kickoff event at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Patrick participated in the exchange's first transaction (Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative release, 10/16).
The governor sent his own health record from MGH to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield (Kantor, Boston Herald, 10/15).
Also during the event, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston transmitted a health record to the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative's Quality Data Center. The Quality Data Center aims to help health care providers meet the reporting requirements of various performance measurement programs (MAeHC release, 10/16).
Next Steps
The next phase of the Massachusetts health data exchange project is expected to start next year, when the state will focus on collecting data for measuring health care quality.
By 2015, the exchange is expected to allow users to search for data about a patient, rather than simply receiving data from another provider (iHealthBeat, 8/6).