Reporter Volume 25, No.13 December 2, 1993

The Western New York Health Sciences Consortium, in cooperation with
the New York Telephone Company, has created a new high-speed
communications network to improve significantly the data sharing
process among eight area hospitals and the UB School of Medicine and
Biomedical Sciences.
	Described as a "super highway," the fiber-distributed,
data-interface (FDDI) network is expected to be operational before the
end of the year. "Compared with our current data sharing capability,
it's like expanding a highway from one to eight lanes," John E.
Friedlander, president and chief executive officer of The Buffalo
General Hospital and chairman of the consortium's Information Systems
Committee, said during a Nov. 29 press conference.
	Initially, the FDDI network will include UB, Buffalo General,
Millard Fillmore Hospital at Gates Circle, and the Erie County Medical
Center. In phases 2 and 3, The Children's Hospital of Buffalo, Mercy
Hospital, Millard Fillmore Suburban and Sisters of Charity Hospital
will be added to the network between May 1995 and April 1997.
	"Establishing this network is a major accomplishment." said
John P. Naughton, UB vice president for clinical affairs, dean of the
UB medical school, and chair of the Western New York Health Sciences
Consortium.
	"It marks the beginning of numerous cooperative projects that
will enhance medical education, research and patient care in Buffalo
and Western New York," said Naughton. "What we can do with this
network will change the way physicians practice in the years ahead."
	Noting that the consortium has contracted with New York
Telephone to install and maintain the FDDI network for 10 years,
Friedlander observed that without the company's involvement and
cooperation, development of the communication system would not have
been feasible economically.
	Friedlander said, "This undertaking is right at the heart of
health care reform efforts, in that it is a multi-provider,
fiscally-responsible, shared solution which otherwise would have been
duplicated eight times over by each of the consortium participants."
	Roy Higgins, vice president and general manager for New York
Telephone's Western New York operations, agreed. "This is a
significant step toward controlling the cost of health care. 	John
Hammond, director of consortium Information Systems, who developed the
FDDI network proposal in conjunction with New York Telephone,
commented, "This network provides the initial infrastructure to permit
the consortium to track its patients across "continuum of care"
involving many specialties and multiple health care facilities in
urban, suburban and rural areas."
	Gerald Wilson, vice president of information services at The
Buffalo General Hospital, and a member of the consortium's Information
Systems Steering Committee, said the various consortium entities will
be linked by fiber-optic cable and that New York Telephone will serve
as the switching point in the distribution process. "As data is
transmitted on the network, it will be received at New York Telephone
and routed to the appropriate destination or destinations," Wilson
said.
	Hammond explained that in addition to data sharing, the
network will have numerous applications for the hospitals and UB.
"Development of a patient-centered shared clinical database and a
community-wide, centralized electronic patient index will be high
priorities once the new network is in place," he said.
	He noted that another beneficiary of the network is a new
high-tech electronic information system involving libraries at
consortium hospitals and the university.
	Known as Hospitals and University at Buffalo Library Resource
Network (HUBNET), the system was created to support education, patient
care, biomedical research and health care management. HUBNET, which
became operational in October, is a collaborative effort involving
libraries at the university's teaching hospitals and UB's Health
Sciences Library.
	Among HUBNET's features is the National Library of Medicine's
MEDLINE bibliographic reference service, the most widely used
electronic medical information resource in the world, full text
journals and textbooks; enterprise-wide electronic mail, and a
developing clinical bulletin board service.