Governor Jim Doyle created the eHealth Care Quality and Patient Safety Board by Executive Order 129 on November 2, 2005. Its purpose is to develop a strategic plan for the statewide adoption and exchange of electronic health records in five years. The Board will conduct a comprehensive review, and develop recommendations in a number of areas including

o        Identifying existing ehealth resources, including funding sources, to support the development of a statewide ehealth information infrastructure;

o        Identifying technology options, and their advantages and disadvantages, for a statewide ehealth information infrastructure;

o        Identifying options for serving consumer health information needs;

o        Insuring health information privacy and security in electronic health information exchange;

o        Facilitating statewide adoption of electronic health record standards to enable health information exchanges across the state and nationally;

o        Creating organization and governance structures for a statewide ehealth information infrastructure.

Health care spending now represents a record 16 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. The goal is to take advantage of health information technology to improve health care quality and safety while reducing overall costs in the system.  Privacy and security need to be taken into consideration in the development of such a system.  The Board has established a Consumer Interest Work Group that will spearhead the effort to address how privacy and security laws and business practices affect the exchange of interoperable electronic health information.