On Tuesday, East Orange General Hospital and seven other hospitals in northern New Jersey pledged their intention to share electronic health records, saying it will reduce costs and improve care for roughly 2 million patients. It’s the first health information exchange of its kind in New Jersey, the group said.

The new nonprofit network electronically linking the hospitals is known as Health-e-cITi-NJ. The hospitals in the consortium are: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center; the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey—University Hospital, Newark; East Orange General; Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Newark; St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, Paterson; Jersey City Medical Center, Christ Hospital, Jersey City; and Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, Secaucus. Roughly $3.5 million in federal grants funds the program.

Medical experts in the community say the program will be a catalyst to improve the entire health care system in northern New Jersey, and eventually beyond. Electronic record-keeping will be required by the Affordable Care Act by 2014, according to the hospital network.

Read the full story at: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/east_orange_general_other_nort.html

Source: The Star-Ledger