Health IT czar rethinks national data exchange

The U.S. government for six years has been developing the Nationwide Health Information Network, a network of regional health information networks to enable the secure sharing of patient data. Now NHIN is being re-envisioned, national coordinator for health IT, Dr. David Blumenthal told InformationWeek. Instead of aiming to have all healthcare providers on one granddaddy of a national network, the new goal is to get more providers sharing data, even if it's just with practitioners in their immediate vicinity.

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