Maryland's 46 acute-care hospitals will soon be able to share basic patient information among themselves and with credentialed doctors, a key step that health officials and clinicians say will improve patient care and cut costs. The development, to be announced at a news conference Friday at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, is being led by the Maryland's health information exchange, a statewide system that is working to promote the secure electronic sharing of health information among approved doctors' offices, hospitals and other health organizations. Maryland officials have been among the most aggressive in pushing for the sharing of health information, an important piece of the federal health-care overhaul.
