The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (8/20, Nixon) reports that Pennslyvania’s largest health insurer, Highmark Inc., “is developing its own network to allow doctors and hospitals across Pennsylvania to easily share electronic health records.”

Although Highmark “is not ready to release details of the network, known as a health information exchange, such as cost or the hospital systems or software provider involved”  a spokesman for the insurer said the network “is planned to be available to hospitals and doctors across the state.”

Highmark is Pennsylvania’s largest health insurer with more than 4 million members in the state.

As discussed in a previous post, the federal government is pushing exchanges and electronic medical records as ways to reduce medical errors, prevent duplicative treatment and reduce costs.  The Tribune- Review reports that the anticipated interoperability of the exchanges with electronic medical records are “envisioned as being analogous to the world’s banking system, in which bank transactions are performed electronically and easily occur between different institutions.”  Additionally, “[a]n exchange would allow a doctor to quickly pull medical records for a patient he or she is treating, no matter where that patient may have been treated in the past.”

For more information:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_752483.html#ixzz1VmhYvU00

Christine Salimbene, Vice President & General Counsel

Ms. Salimbene joined MTBC in 2009 as General Counsel, Vice President and Company Secretary. She and her team focus on mitigating business risk and ensuring compliance with all legal requirements.