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Just as Hurricane Rita threatens the Gulf Coast, a health-care site has been launched today to allow medical professionals access to the prescription medical records of some of the Hurricane Katrina evacuees now scattered throughout the nation.
Located at KatrinaHealth.org, the online site will give authorized health professionals and pharmacies access to evacuees medication and dosage information in order to renew prescriptions, prescribe new medications, and coordinate care. This information will be accessible from anywhere in the country.
“Nearly 40 percent of evacuees were taking prescription medications before the storm hit, and many more need new or additional medications now,” noted Dr. Carol Diamond, managing director of the health care program at the Markle Foundation.
The information on the site was compiled and made accessible by a coalition of more than 150 organizations including private electronic prescription companies like SureScripts, Gold Standard, and RxHub, public agencies such as the Office of the National Coordination for Health Information Technology, and national organizations like the Markle Foundation.
Before setting up this service, the coalition contacted state first responders and American Red Cross workers, who agreed that this service would be very helpful to those caring for Katrina evacuees.