Electronic collaboration: using technology to solve old problems of quality care.

The participants of the Electronic Collaboration working group of the 2010 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference developed recommendations and research questions for improving regional quality of care through the use of electronic collaboration. A writing group devised a working draft prior to the meeting and presented this to the breakout session at the consensus conference for input and approval. The recommendations include: 1) patient health information should be available electronically across the entire health care delivery system from the 9-1-1 call to the emergency department (ED) visit through hospitalization and outpatient care, 2) relevant patient health information should be shared electronically across the entire health care delivery system, 3) Web-based collaborative technologies should be employed to facilitate patient transfer and timely access to specialists, 4) personal health record adoption should be considered as a way to improve patient health, and 5) any comprehensive reform of regionalization in emergency care must include telemedicine. The workgroup emphasized the need for funding increases so that research in this new and exciting area can expand.