Rebel Without a Clue

HHS (you know, the government guys who have a clue) came up with this fast-and-dirty solution to difficult to obtain perscription records in the wake of the katrina disaster. They were able in a very short time to provide a database for nearly 80% of those affected. The cool thing? It was entirely voluntary.

"The companies voluntarily worked together to create a site where shelter doctors could link to databases from a single source. Otherwise, doctors would have had to cobble together patient information from five sources. The databases contained prescription data for 80 percent of those affected by the storm and floodwaters, he said. The Veterans Affairs Department also contributed data. "

Gold Standard Multimedia of Tampa, Fla., the Medicaid prescription-drug contractor for the three affected states, provided the front end. Looks like they did a bang-up job.
Privacy issues will follow, of course, but the success of this project is pretty clearly the child of the big push for EPHI.