HHS To Establish Electronic Health Records in Areas Affected by Hurricane Katrina, USA

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Article Date: 22 Nov 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday announced that the department will partner with two organizations to establish electronic health records in Gulf Coast areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, CQ HealthBeat reports. Under the partnership, the Southern Governors' Association will help HHS consolidate local and national resources to plan for the transition to EHRs, and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals will "develop a prototype of health information sharing and electronic health records," CQ HealthBeat reports. According to Leavitt, although the hurricane destroyed thousands of paper health records, most EHRs were preserved. He added that the hurricane highlighted "the real vulnerabilities of the American health care system -- a system based upon paper, which in an instant was destroyed" (CQ HealthBeat, 11/17).

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