Digital health organization

Colorado EKG Repository, Inc.

Colorado EKG Repository, Inc. was a Colorado nonprofit initiative developing ways to share electrocardiograms between emergency departments and community clinics. Records from 2005–2009 describe its work on interoperability, access to earlier patient tracings and safeguards for clinical information.

Organization profile

Organization type
Digital health organization
Geographic scope
Colorado, United States; documented project development in 2005–2009
Former / alternate names
  • Colorado EKG Repository
  • COEKG--Colorado EKG Repository, INC

Medical focus

Digital healthHealth information exchangeEmergency medicineElectrocardiography

Activities

Health data exchange developmentInteroperabilityClinical information infrastructureProfessional collaboration

Population served

Emergency departmentsCommunity health clinicsCliniciansPatients with fragmented medical records

Formation and emergency-care purpose

A Colorado Secretary of State certificate issued on 14 October 2005 records the formation of COEKG--Colorado EKG Repository, INC on 11 October 2005 as a nonprofit corporation. Its historical About page identifies emergency physician John Ogle as the founder and describes a collaboration of healthcare and information professionals.

The initiative grew from work to improve clinical information exchange between emergency departments and local subsidized clinics. Its stated priorities included patients with limited access to primary care, whose earlier records could be difficult to obtain when they attended a different hospital.

Sources: [1], [3].

An exchange focused on earlier EKG tracings

The project’s mission was to make electrocardiograms available across institutional boundaries. A clinician seeing a patient in an emergency department would be able to consult a previous tracing held elsewhere. The website described a browser-based, hospital-independent approach, with standardization intended to make information usable at the point of care.

The mission statement described an independent project supervised by the Boulder County Medical Society. Secure EKG exchange was its immediate focus, within a wider ambition to improve access to electronic health records. These statements describe the proposed service and its intended benefits rather than measured clinical outcomes.

Sources: [2], [6].

Hospitals, clinics and the Colorado exchange landscape

The historical website named Longmont United Hospital, Exempla Good Samaritan, Avista, Clinica Campesina and Salud Family Health Centers as partner hospitals and clinics. These are separate provider organizations whose names belong to the project’s historical network.

A report prepared for the Office of the National Coordinator and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, dated 20 December 2007, independently listed Colorado EKG Repository among Colorado’s emerging health information exchange initiatives. The report also discussed other regional and statewide initiatives, providing a dated context for COEKG’s place in the developing exchange landscape.

Sources: [5], [6].

What the prototype records establish

The project’s privacy page distinguished mock data from patient records. Its September 2005 description said that no live records were accessible through the public internet and that the Exempla intranet contained mock EKGs for authorized researchers. It also set out proposed safeguards for stored and exchanged information.

The homepage revised in February 2009 still described a phase-one prototype and an expected autumn 2009 launch. Taken together, these documents establish a development history and the purposes of the exchange. They do not establish a completed implementation, the number of participating patients or a service available in 2026.

Sources: [4], [6].

Further health reading

Heart attack (myocardial infarction)

ECG is among the tests used when a heart attack is suspected. This provides clinical background for COEKG’s historical focus on access to earlier ECG records.

Atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is an example of an irregular rhythm assessed with ECG recordings. This guide explains the condition behind that use of cardiac information.

Heart failure

ECG may form part of a wider heart-failure assessment. This overview explains another condition relevant to the repository’s historical subject area.

Sources

  1. Colorado Secretary of State: COEKG formation certificate, issued 14 October 2005; historical copy (coekg.org)
  2. COEKG: historical mission statement, page revision 24 January 2008 (coekg.org)
  3. COEKG: historical organization and project origins, page revision 24 January 2008 (coekg.org)
  4. COEKG: privacy safeguards describing the prototype in August–September 2005 (coekg.org)
  5. ONC/AHRQ: Privacy and Security Solutions for Interoperable HIE, Impact Analysis, 20 December 2007; Colorado overview (digital.ahrq.gov)
  6. COEKG: historical project homepage, revised 28 February 2009 (coekg.org)
  7. NHLBI: health background for Heart attack (myocardial infarction) (nhlbi.nih.gov)
  8. NHLBI: health background for Atrial fibrillation (nhlbi.nih.gov)
  9. NHLBI: health background for Heart failure (nhlbi.nih.gov)

Institutional relationships

Where this organization fits

Documented relationships with other organizations. Connections do not imply endorsement.