Nationwide Health Information Network goes live for a day, sort of

The emerging Nationwide Health Information Network was put through its paces on September 23 as live operations were demonstrated before a large audience at the Health and Human Services Department and via a Webcast. The demonstration involved records created for the test but stored in actual health systems. The exercise showed that a healthcare provider could easily use a Web browser to obtain basic records on a patient stored by another healthcare system. The next step is to prepare to go live by the end of the year, said Ginger Price, NHIN program coordinator at HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.