Of course, the plan for RI’s statewide EHR system was announced within a day of the merger announcement from Lifespan and Care New England, which together represent about 75% of the state’s hospital capacity (and affiliated physicians).
It’s a small state, and it will have effectively one major provider by the time the EHR system is rolled out (unless the deal tanks, which it did the last time they tried this, eight or so years ago). Nevertheless, I suppose this is some sort of milestone.
There are both the good and the bad secondary uses of PHI to be considered as this system is built.