Title
Approve and authorize the Director of Health to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Emergency Medical Services Agency to participate in the Health Information Exchange Program.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
Approve and authorize the Director of Health to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Emergency Medical Services Agency to participate in the Health Information Exchange Program.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
Approve and authorize the Director of Health to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMSA) to participate in the Health Information Exchange (HEI) Program. This agreement will authorize the Monterey County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency to receive a grant totaling $24,000 for the Health Data Exchange (HDE) project for the period of September 01, 2013 through December 31, 2013.
Monterey County is in need of a better form of patient data exchange between its pre-hospital electronic Patient Care Record (ePCRs) and hospital Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). Improving this data exchange will directly impact the quality of care patients receive from both the pre-hospital providers as well as continued care in the hospital. Currently there are six Advanced Life Support (ALS) providers within Monterey County. Five of these providers use the ESO ePCR system and our sixth provider is a contracted transport company using the ePCR system MEDS. Both ESO and MEDS are NEMSIS 3 compliant, but neither uses an electronic transfer of data system to local hospital EMRs. Transported patient ePCRs must be printed out at the hospital and put into the chart. This process often allows for lost ePCRs, inadequate reference resources for admitting doctors, and poor follow up for pre-hospital providers. This board report was originally intended to be presented to the Board in September 2013 but was delayed due to requested changes and...
Click here for full text