“The Food and Drug Administration is constructing a nationwide electronic system to continuously track the safety of drugs and medical devices using anonymous patient data, but federal officials and health care specialists say its usefulness might be limited without more personal information.
The Sentinel initiative, launched in May 2008, will complement existing systems that monitor side effects and other adverse changes in health linked to FDA-regulated products. The system will tie together information from various registries, including electronic health record systems and insurance claims databases, allowing FDA workers to query an issue quickly.”
Article
Aliya Sternstein, NextGov, 11 January 2010
