The Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative Information Technology Network (RWHC ITN), which is working toward establishing a shared EHR infrastructure for Wisconsin community hospitals, has selected Healthcare Management Systems (HMS) to install a common data center.

The RWHC ITN is comprised of four independent rural hospitals that will utilize HMS for their hospital information system from a common data center.

The datacenter is expected to go live at the end of 2008 and clinical data exchange between the facilities to begin in 2009, according to the RWHC ITN.

Following an initial implementation period, the organization intends to work with larger hospitals toward a regional data exchange that will further enhance patient safety and healthcare system efficiency for Wisconsin health providers and all Wisconsin residents.