Cisco, Intel, Oracle team up on health care

Cisco Systems, Intel and Oracle announced Tuesday that they are forming a consortium to help promote the use of technology to share medical information. The new group, called the Silicon Valley Pay-for-Performance Consortium, consists of the three technology companies as well as some of the largest medical groups and independent-practice associations in Northern California.

The purpose of the consortium is to accelerate the use of technology for safely and securely exchanging patient records. The first step toward this goal is implementing a pay-for-performance program, which is already in use in several states. Physicians who use information technology to improve their processes will be rewarded. Initially, Cisco, Intel and Oracle will pay financial incentives to participants based on certain measurements.