NC ER Database Program Honored

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ... The North Carolina Emergency Department Database (NCEDD) has been cited by the Markle Foundation as a model system for collecting emergency department data for public health purposes.

NCEDD is part of Markle's Connecting for Health program, a collaboration of more than 100 public and private stakeholders who work together to improve health care through the use of information technology. Connecting for Health recently spotlighted NCEDD as one of 14 national programs that demonstrate noteworthy electronic privacy and security practices.

The state program is collecting data from three North Carolina hospitals on a daily basis and securely transmitting this data to a central repository. Plans are underway to add additional hospitals over the next 12 months.

Data is accessible to participating hospitals and the North Carolina Division of Public Health via a secure web portal. This is done while protecting patient health information.

The NCEDD project originated from a North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance focus group of several state emergency department clinicians. The project is funded by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health and is managed by the University of North Carolina Department of Emergency Medicine.

N.C. Emergency Department Database: www.ncedd.org