"I am very exited about this project," said Cindi B. Jones, director, Virginia Health Reform Initiative, at the launch. Although there are still lots of pieces that need to come, "just knowing what medication they [patients] are on is critical," she added, recounting a story about her own mother's (who has Parkinson's disease) multiple visits to the ER.

"The system has been designed to be compatible with emergency department workflows where time is of the essence," explained Earl Jones, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare's eHealth business. "We see this as a strong first step in our pledge to provide innovative information technologies to make fully functional health data exchange a reality in northern Virginia and beyond."

NoVaRHIO is providing funding for the two-year pilot, supported in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Future project goals include adding other hospitals and hospital systems to the MEDS-ED Link project, as well as incorporating laboratory and radiology data into the medical history report, officials added.

"By combining the global expertise of GE Healthcare with Inova's commitment to patient care and safety, NoVaRHIO is extremely proud to facilitate this first step toward more efficient and reliable access to critical health data," said Phil Reilly, NoVaRHIO board chairman and chief financial officer at KOL Bio-Medical Instruments. "We look forward to working with hospitals and hospital systems throughout the region as we pursue of mission of improving the health status and healthcare of those who live and work in northern Virginia."

Eugene Huang, senior adviser to Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, said during the project's launch that he sees MEDS-ED serving as a model for the rest of the country.

Virginia has currently concluded an extended plan (six months) for a state health information exchange, which it just submitted to the ONC for review, says Kim Barnes, director, office of Health Information Technology, Virginia Department of Health. She says the good and bad news is that Virginia will be the first state to be reviewed by the ONC through the extended planning period. She says that today's launch served as a "small step toward what we know and firmly believe will be a better Virginia."