National health information network passes live test

Abstract

A live demonstration of the Nation-wide Health Information Network (NHIN) prototype suggests that electronic medical data may one day be efficiently exchanged among frontline health care providers across the country. The demonstration, which was held at the September 23 meeting of the American Health Information Community (AHIC) in Washington, D.C., included several different patient care scenarios. Demonstration participants accessed the NHIN over the Internet using laptop computers. The first test case involved an Ohio man who collapsed while traveling in Indianapolis. A query was sent over the NHIN, which quickly produced laboratory and medical data across information exchanges in five states and pointed to a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. Another test case involved a soldier who was wounded while serving in Iraq and then required care at civilian and military facilities in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina as well as electronic access to medical information from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Defense Department.