Filed at 5:53 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An unprecedented mix of technology giants and consumer and doctor groups came together Tuesday to tackle one of medicine's biggest challenges: Linking certain medical records electronically so a doctor anytime, anywhere can get vital information to treat patients.

The idea is to try to reduce the medical errors that kill thousands of Americans each year by taming the nation's tangled maze of medical information.

The technology the new nonprofit Patient Safety Institute advocates can link different computer systems confidentially and in real-time -- the same way the online banking industry works, said Dr. Jack Lewin, head of the California Medical Association and chairman of the institute.

To work, patients first must consent to having their health information be part of the project, stressed consumer advocates who are helping to run the project. Then every doctor, hospital or pharmacy the patient uses would also have to participate, to ensure a complete health record.

But despite announcing $8 million in funding Tuesday for a pilot test of the project, in a city to be picked next month, the group faces an uphill battle.

Previous attempts to fight medical errors by electronically linking vital health information have failed, largely because doctors, hospitals and technology companies can't agree on standards to ensure everybody's computer systems are compatible, said Dr. Gregg Meyer of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

That meant doctors and hospitals were reluctant to make the investments needed to digitize records.

To improve Americans' safety, ``somebody has to do this,'' Meyer said. If the new group ``brings the right players to the table to get this accomplished, that's a wonderful thing.''

But it's not clear if the new group can. Absent from Tuesday's collaboration were some of health care's biggest information technology companies, such as Cerner Corp. Nor has it won the endorsement of such groups as the American Medical Association, said AMA spokeswoman Brenda Craine.

The Patient Safety Institute, or PSI, is funded by Hewlett-Packard and seven other information technology companies, and governed by heads of the National Consumers League, the physician Medical Group Management Association and other patient advocacy groups.

They argue the issue is simple: Use the same technology that makes online banking work to link data from doctors' offices, hospitals and pharmacies, regardless of the hardware and software each office uses, said Lewin.

That way if Jane Doe lands unconscious in an emergency room, pushing a few buttons on a hospital computer or Palm Pilot-like device would instantly show a doctor all her allergies, medications, vaccinations, diagnoses and recent lab test results.

``It's very important when they're seeking health care in crisis, when they can't speak,'' that doctors learn if a patient is allergic to penicillin or overdue for a tetanus shot, explained board member Jane Delgado of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health.

``If Fed Ex can track packages across the country ... surely we can keep track of medications and the particulars necessary for our health,'' added Lisa Price of PSI funder Williams Communications, a fiber-optic network.

Lewin said PSI will choose a major U.S. city within a few weeks to begin signing up participants in the first pilot test to see if such a project can work. He said various city and even state health officials have expressed interest, but wouldn't identify the leading candidates.