Why was KatrinaHealth.org not available during the initial aftermath of Hurricane Katrina?
KatrinaHealth.org is a completely new, secure online service, created in just three weeks through a remarkable collaborative commitment by many organizations. While there are many organizations, businesses, foundations, elected officials, and government agencies that support the idea of nationwide health information exchange, there are few established, commonly used standards for storing and transmitting prescription information or any other kind of health information on a truly interoperable basis, and few established business and legal arrangements to make such sharing possible. Recent technical and policy work conducted by the Office of the National Coordination for Health Information Technology (ONC), the Connecting for Health Collaborative of the Markle Foundation and many collaborators, and other key players in the arena of connectivity in health care provided a foundation for the rapid progress we were able to make in response to the Katrina crisis. Still, the fact that KatrinaH
