E-Health and the Terrible Floods in the US MidWest.

The follow press release appeared a day or two ago.

FSSA Announces Indiana Flood Victims eHealth Support Center

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) announced the creation of the Indiana Flood Victims eHealth Support Center (1-877-788-5888) as a part of the relief effort for disaster victims across the state. This support center will provide doctors with medical information of flood victims, to the extent obtainable, for treatment purposes. FSSA is leading the effort between the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), who is handling the calls, and Electronic Data Systems (EDS).

“Governor Daniels called upon state government to assist the disaster victims in any and all ways possible. The support center is just one of several initiatives taking place to help Hoosiers get back on their feet,” said FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob. “With the eHealth Support Center, we will be able to give providers all the information we have available in a timely manner, resulting in a higher quality of care for patients.”

Medical information is being made available through the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC). The INPC is a secure clinical data repository that is populated with healthcare information in collaboration with central Indiana hospitals, outpatient centers, pharmacies, imaging centers, laboratories, public health departments and insurance providers.

“We are pleased to be able to support flood evacuees and their doctors in this time of need,” said Dr. J. Marc Overhage, Director of Medical Informatics at the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and President/CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange. “The ability to provide medical information that would otherwise be lost or inaccessible is going to make a difference in the care of many Hoosiers. We applaud FSSA in making this collaboration a reality.”

Calls will be taken 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Requests that are made to the Indiana Flood Victims eHealth Support Center (1-877-788-5888) during business hours (7:00am – 5:00 pm EST) will be processed within one hour. Calls made after hours will be processed the next business day.

For additional information about the eHealth Support Center, patients and physicians should visit: www.ihie.com/indianaflood. For more information on disaster relief efforts visit: www.emergency.in.gov .For more information about FSSA, visit: www.fssa.in.gov. For more information about EDS, visit: www.eds.com . Additional information about the Indiana Health Information Exchange may be found at: www.ihie.com. Information about the Regenstrief Institute is available at: www.regenstrief.org.

URL for release:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080620005411&newsLang=en

This is really a good thing to see the infrastructure be quickly brought into action to support those who have been displaced and possibly separated from their usual services and carers. This is, of course, what did not happen with Cyclone Katrina.

One can only hope planning to deliver such services is part of the disaster planning that is undertaken in Australia – given the bad run we have had with cyclones and the like recently.

David.


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