Northern N.J. Hospitals to Share Electronic Health Records

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