The chief executives of the region’s hospital systems and health plans Wednesday launched a drive to increase participation in HEALTHeLINK, a regional electronic network that links patients, doctors and insurers so they can share medical records.

The health care organizations, which also were the founding organizations of HEALTHeLINK, want to increase the number of completed patient consent-election forms in which patients can make their medical information accessible to HEALTHeLINK.

The electronic medical record is seen as one way to improve care and control medical costs. HEALTHeLINK recently received a major $16.1 million federal stimulus grant to help doctors use electronic medical records to manage their diabetes patients.

To learn more about HEALTHeLINK and the patient consent process, call 206-0993, Ext. 311.