Established: 1999 

Best Advice to New HIE:  Put official governance in place early that represents all of the major stakeholders, even (especially) dissenting viewpoints.

The Santa Barbara County Care Data Exchange (SBCCDE) operates as a public utility and allows patient-specific clinical information to be securely and readily accessible to any authorized person, including the patient.  It serves the County of Santa Barbara as a peer-to-peer health information exchange, including the sharing of reports, results, and personal health information.

The SBCCDE is a collaboration of multiple public and private stakeholders across Santa Barbara County who are focused on use of electronic health information to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care to all consumers.  The SBCCDE is governed by leaders of these stakeholders, who as part of their long-term commitment are completing formation of a non-profit corporation to operate SBCCDE.  As of March 1, 2004, the governing body will become the board of directors of the corporation and full-time staff will be recruited to assume responsibility for day-to-day operations and for sustaining and moving the project forward.

The SBCCDE is one of the first and most widely known health information exchange in the United States.  It has committed leadership that has overseen the Care Data Exchange (CDE) for 6 years and developed innovations in components of health information exchange that are now being replicated throughout the Untied States.  The County has served as a laboratory and teaching center for other regions interested in health information exchange, hosting more than 100 visitors last year and publishing detailed lessons from its successes and failures.  Supported by a three-year, $10 million dollar grant from the California HealthCare Foundation   , the SBCCDE brings together leading public and private health care organizations across the County.

SBCCDE is now poised to address near-term improvements in the safety and quality of care delivery and to further explore the boundaries of health information exchange that can contribute to other regions and to NHII efforts.

For more information contact:

Mike Skinner
816-812-8461
Mike@consolidatedHIC.com

# # #