hat if you could obtain real-time patient data from any facility or physician office, anywhere in the county? Imagine obtaining discharge summaries, reports from consultants and emergency room physicians, labs, X-rays, and a list of all the medications prescribed for your patients over the last year from a central community network.

The California Health Alliance (CHA) is about to make this vision a reality by partnering with the national Patient Safety Institute (PSI), the San Diego Center for Patient Safety, Quest Diagnostics, and select health plan and corporate sponsors.

This groundbreaking project will be accomplished through the establishment of the San Diego Medical Information Network Exchange (SD MINE). This secure and HIPAA-compliant network is designed to help physicians and hospitals improve their workflow, decrease administrative expenses, and improve the quality of care for their patients.

Non-profit PSI, supported by the Western Governor’s Association, has agreed to work with CHA to build a private and secure medical information network exchange. Beyond enhanced patient safety and quality, participating providers will benefit from an immediate improvement in workflow and decreased administrative expenses. Most important is the ability for physicians with limited technologic capabilities to interface countywide at minimal cost. This well funded initiative will feature:

• Easy access to a single, cost-effective system that will link all labs,
  X-ray facilities, hospitals, physician offices, and pharmacies
  throughout San Diego County;
• Patient-centric electronic prescribing and data exchange capabilities
  without a need to purchase expensive hardware or software;
• A short list of "preferred" practice management and/or EMR systems
  that are optional for physicians interested in moving forward along
  the technology spectrum;
• Free, pre-screened patient resource guides and education material;
• Links to "the best of breed" websites for physician education and guidelines.

This project provides physicians with the opportunity to manage prescriptions electronically and to access real-time patient medication histories, lab and radiology results, discharge summaries, and physician reports regardless of where the patient was treated in the county. SD MINE allows for hospitals and medical groups to seamlessly embed or link this modality to their existing branded information hub without significant disruption or cost. In cities and states where PSI has implemented this initiative, providers have vastly increased the depth and breadth of the information available on each patient at the point of service, yielding a substantive reduction in duplicative testing and medication errors. SD MINE is slated to be operational in early 2004.

The San Diego Center for Patient Safety (SDCPS) and Director Matthew Weinger, MD, have been instrumental in making this initiative a reality. SDCPS was created in 2001 with a seed grant from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and now has institutional representation from VA San Diego Healthcare, U.C.S.D. Healthcare, Children’s Hospital of San Diego, Sharp Healthcare, Scripps Health, and the Naval Regional Medical Center of San Diego.

The Network will initially allow physicians four options to interface with the Network depending on the technologic capabilities of each physician.

Community Networks have already been established in Seattle, Santa Barbara, and Indianapolis, and are underway statewide in Delaware. CHA will demonstrate this program at an all-day health fair Friday, October 17 at the San Diego Marriott in Mission Valley. The health fair is jointly sponsored by Physicians Sales & Services and will include a tour of "The Medical Office of the Future" where physicians and office managers with scheduled appointments can be taken through the office. The health fair will also include a wide variety of valuable seminars and will feature well over thirty vendors of value-added and discounted medical office products, equipment, and resources. 

			For More Information
			Patient Safety Institute San Diego County Medical Society California Health Alliance

For more information about this project, the health fair, or the participating partners and vendors, please contact Anna-Maja at 858/565-8888, ext 106.