Acadiana's News Leader Program Will Share Medical Records

A pilot program getting underway at UL Lafayette's Picard Center could revolutionize healthcare for Louisiana Children.

The center is teaming up with LSU and the State Department of Health and Hospitals to build an electronic database of public school students' health care records.

That would allow health care providers, including school nurses, pediatricians, and hospitals, to access a child's medical history immediately.

"So what we are trying to do is find a way to capture the information on all children that in our public schools, so that it can be easily shared with other health providers" says MSW Director of Health Sciences John LaCour. 

LaCour says benefits include increased accessibility to information, higher quality of health care, reduced errors and omissions, increased communication, and improved timeliness of care.