NEWS RELEASE

July 31, 2009

HealthInfoNet, a Statewide Health Information Exchange, Unveiled Today

Background: When considering hospital medical records, many people still picture paper and pen documents bound together in a file. As part of the national movement to reform healthcare, the Obama administration hopes we will envision a system of electronic medical records. What that means is instead of writing information down and storing it in a cabinet, your healthcare provider would update information to your personal online file at each visit, creating a complete medical history that is easily-accessible by your healthcare providers.

One of the people whose expertise is being tapped by President Obama is David Blumenthal, MD, a longtime Boston physician who has focused much of his career on transitioning to electronic medical records and providing affordable healthcare. Dr. Blumenthal was in southern Maine today to participate in the unveiling of Maine’s HealthInfoNet, a health information exchange operated by a collaborative of government and public health officials, physicians, insurers, consumers, employers, and non-profits, such as Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS).

Obviously, with any electronic system, privacy is a top concern. Mainers should rest assured that HealthInfoNet is deeply committed to operating a system that places security and patient privacy as the very highest priority. In addition to regulatory oversight and internal security, HealthInfoNet has established Consumer Advisory Committee comprised of healthcare and computer experts, a number of consumer advocacy groups with strong interests in patient privacy, as well as educators.

Radio Sound Bytes:
Audio is available on the EMHS web site at www.emh.org and click on media relations. You are welcome to download these sound bytes and use on-air or as needed.

Eric Hartz, MD, an oncologist and chief information officer at Eastern Maine Medical Center (a member organization of EMHS), has worked very closely on development of HealthInfoNet. In the sound bytes below Dr. Hartz explains why this technology and this system are good for patients, healthcare providers, and the State of Maine:

1. Dr. Hartz says the work EMHS and other partners of HealthInfoNet are doing demonstrates Maine’s national leadership in the creation of and use of electronic medical records systems. He says this project is key because it ties together health communication at both the local and statewide levels
Eric Hartz, MD  oc/ and healthinfonet provides that link    :33 

2. Information technology is a vitally important tool in transforming the way in which healthcare is delivered, a key element in healthcare reform, and benefits the patient through an accurate and continuously updated medical record 
Eric Hartz, MD  oc/provide that more efficiently     :24 

3. HealthInfoNet is an example of what can be accomplished through collaboration between consumers, providers, payers, business, government, and others, however, Dr. Hartz points out that the patient will realize the greatest benefit
Eric Hartz, MD   oc/of where the patient is seeking care   :30 

4. In this extended sound byte, Dr. Hartz provides some historical background into how HealthInfoNet was formed, the work that’s gone into its creation, and reiterates that it was all created with the patient in mind …. 
Eric Hartz, MD   oc/ care throughout the state of Maine   :55 
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