Medical Staff

North Carolina to track outbreaks

Executive Briefings Digest, January 9, 2006

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North Carolina is launching a new electronic health database that will use emergency room (ER) data to track illnesses and monitor for early signs of disease outbreaks, according to The News & Observer. Every 12 hours, ER staff will submit information about the symptoms they see in their patients.

The program, which will cost $3.4 million over five years, will be up and running in all of the state's 24-hour ERs by spring, according the The News & Observer. Currently, 52 of the state's 113 hospitals use the reporting program. The system uses software from information technology firm MercuryMD, which also captures nonidentifying demographic information such as age, gender, and county.

Source: Electronic Health Records Briefing



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