Health Information Exchanges are Vital to Pandemic Responses, Official Says

State health information exchanges, which hold and collate electronic medical records, are vital to the federal government's ability to rapidly respond to a public health emergency, a Health and Human Services Department official told a Senate panel Tuesday.

The Senate Committee on Health Education and Labor is considering reauthorizing legislation for the 2006 Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which established Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie's position as a catchall organizer during public health emergencies.

Lurie's office published a National Health Security Strategy in 2009. Her office is working on the final draft of a Biennial Implementation Plan for that strategy, calling for increased reliance on the data provided by state-centered health information exchanges.

The federal government had invested more than $500 million in grants to states and territories to develop the necessary infrastructure for those exchanges as of January.