Volunteers have formed a board that will develop a health information technology system for Wyoming.

"Health IT is one of the key tools that is going to truly make a difference in health care," said Anne Ladd, executive director of the Wyoming Healthcare Commission. "The system currently is expensive and inefficient, and we need to find ways to make it more efficient and more affordable so that more people can get access and better health care."

The healthcare commission began the effort, but a separate board will be needed to carry the project forward, organizers say.

The first board, formed Thursday night in Casper, will be chaired by Casper radiologist Dr. Geoff Smith. Members will include Wyoming Department of Health administrator Leland Clabots, Wyoming Primary Care Association Director Steve Chasson and Black Hills Bentonite Vice President Larry Madsen.

Yet to be named are representatives from Great-West Insurance, the Wyoming Hospital Association and the Wyoming Medical Society.

The group will be called WyHIO: Wyoming Regional Health Information Organization.

The meeting Thursday was attended by several dozen key players in Wyoming health care.

Transforming patients' health records to computers that can be accessed by any of their health care providers is a major step, they said.

The initial board and other volunteers will work to obtain grants to get the projects rolling.

The first priorities are: Hiring an executive director, expanding the number of practices that file insurance claims electronically, building a system so doctors can call in prescriptions over e-mail, coordinating hospitals with local doctors, and building basic patient health summaries.

Eventually, Smith said, the group hopes the Legislature will devote money to keeping the group going.

Nationally, other states and regions are developing the same systems. President Bush called in 2004 for every American to have an electronic health record by 2014.

Sen. Mike Enzi has asked the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for help establishing Wyoming's system. A representative from that group was in Casper this week offering technical assistance.

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.