Aug 5 2014
Two major insurers -- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California -- are creating a joint health-information exchange, making the medical records of about nine million plan members available to participating doctors and hospitals.
Los Angeles Times: Insurance Giants Creating Massive Database Of Patient Records
Two of California's largest health insurers are partnering to create a massive database of patient medical records. With just a few strokes of a keyboard, doctors and nurses will be able to access the medical histories of about one in four California residents. Supporters say the effort by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California could mean faster, cheaper and better healthcare. But the system faces significant technological challenges and privacy concerns (Logan and Pfeifer, 8/4).
The Wall Street Journal: Two Insurers To Pool Medical Records In California
Two major California insurers are teaming up to create what will be one of the nation's largest health-information exchanges, making the medical records of about nine million plan members available to participating doctors and hospitals. It is an ambitious effort, as dozens of similar information exchanges have closed or consolidated because of financial and administrative problems (Beck and Wilde Mathews, 8/5).
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 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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