You are out to dinner, celebrating the clean bill of health you were given after a recent cardiac catheterization. Suddenly, you feel pain in your chest, and EMS is called. You ask to be taken to the hospital where your procedure was done, your physician has privileges, and all tests related to your recent procedure are available. EMS takes you instead to the closest hospital due to the situation’s urgency.

The doctor in the ED doesn’t have your baseline information, so even if you have only heartburn, it’s likely you’ll spend the next 24 hours in the hospital, regardless of what happens to your pain.

But imagine if the doctor could log on and locate your information, in a secure network of health care facilities and be given a view of the information needed to better evaluate you – all in a matter of seconds. After reviewing that information, evaluating you and your tests in the ED, it’s determined that you are in fact suffering from rather severe heartburn. Treatment is initiated and you are sent home, avoiding a hospital admission and a long stay.

This is goal of the New York Clinical Information Exchange (NYCLIX), a multi-institutional collaboration in the NY metropolitan area.