A Medical Device Daily

The National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH; both Bethesda, Maryland) has awarded a $1.7 million grant to health information service provider Hx Technologies (Morristown, New Jersey) to expand its flagship Philadelphia Health Information Exchange.

Hx said the award comes amid increasing interest in such networks across the nation stimulated by President George Bush's call for interoperable electronic medical records within the next 10 years. An anticipated national health information network is expected to emerge from such regional exchanges.

Built on the company's iHistory platform, the Philadelphia network was launched two years ago to enable hospitals and clinics to exchange digital medical records securely across enterprise borders for shared patients. The network is intended to close the gaps in a physician's knowledge of patient history by enabling on-demand access to clinical information regardless of where a patient has sought care.

Hx Technologies is a health information company developing regional health information exchanges over the last five years with support from the NIH. Working with healthcare providers, payors and regional health information organizations, Hx targets duplicative waste by enabling on-demand and secure access to digital patient data located beyond enterprise borders.