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Area Health Care Industry Forms Electronic Medical Info Repository

By Lynne Adkins

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new local nonprofit organization is creating a computer-based exchange for health care information that will cross county lines.

A coalition of hospitals, insurance companies, and health care groups is creating the HealthShare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Vice chair Karen Thomas says the idea is for your medical records and health care information to go where you go, throughout the region.

"When a patient leaves a hospital emergency department, for example, their information will electronically flow to their primary care phsyician who may be treating them post-emergency room visit," she explains.

Thomas says the goal is to give the health care provider the latest information needed to give the patient the best possible care in the most cost-effective manner.

The system should be up and running in the fall.

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