By Tony McVeigh
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- – One day soon, you may be able to be admitted to a Kentucky hospital without having to fill out reams of paperwork on your medical history. The information will already be available on a secure, electronic information network.
That's the goal of the Kentucky Health Information Exchange, which currently has six pilot hospitals and one clinic participating.
"Pikeville Medical Center became the first hospital in the state to enter into an agreement with the KHIE," said Gov. Steve Beshear. "We've been working with Pikeville Medical Center to give it direct access to treatment information about its Medicaid patients."
Beshear says a nearly $5-million federal grant awarded in 2007 is making the electronic information exchange program possible.
State Health and Family Services Secretary Janie Miller says the ultimate goal is to make the system available to all Kentuckians.
"It creates varying levels of connectivity to meet the needs of medical providers who are at different stages of adopting health information technology within their organization."