is prohibited.
to the government for public health purposes and to catch contagious outbreaks
early as well as to determine current health issues and how they can be addressed.
For example, cancer registries report specific aggregated cancer information, and
healthcare organizations report instances of certain infectious diseases such as the
Avian influenza (bird flu), for the welfare of the public. The importance of sharing
this information is the improvement of patient safety, efficiency, self-health management
(through access of medical information), and effective delivery of healthcare
(HL7, 2005). Figure 2 shows how two entities may interact to share information
(adapted from HL7).
Indeed, a commission on systemic interoperability has been established through the
Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 and recommends product certification, interoperable
standards, and standard vocabulary as a way of ensuring that healthcare data
is readily accessible (Vijayan, 2005). At a North Carolina Healthcare Information
Communications Alliance, one recurring theme was that of interoperable EHRs.
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