FROM THE FOUNDATION

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Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of diagnostic testing, has implemented the ELINCS lab standard in its national data exchange hub, making it easier for physicians to electronically access Quest Diagnostics lab results.

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Community clinics with experience making the transition from paper to electronic records share the strategies, techniques, and insights they learned along the way.

Telehealth Project to Provide Dental Care

Low-income families will receive free dental care, thanks to the Virtual Dental Home, a telehealth project supported by CHCF and other funders. The four-year pilot project will eventually operate in nine California communities.

Patient Safety

Thursday, March 20, 2008

VA Emergency Response Plans Build on Mobile Pharmacies

The Department of Veterans Affairs is rolling out mobile pharmacies to provide critical medications to patients during emergencies, Government Health IT reports.

The mobile pharmacy units, which are housed in 40-foot solid steel trailers built to withstand winds in a category 3 storm, include a satellite connection with VA's Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy system. The computerized, automated mail-out pharmacy system can process more than 1,000 prescriptions per hour.

Pharmacists will be able to use the satellite system to obtain a veteran's prescription information to dispense the drugs on-site or send medications by mail to a veteran's home or temporary address.

In September 2007, VA unveiled its first mobile pharmacy in Washington, D.C., and expects to roll out its second mobile pharmacy later this month.

To ensure rapid emergency response, VA plans to strategically place its mobile pharmacies in:

  • Charleston, S.C.;
  • Dallas; and
  • Murfreesboro, Tenn.

VA plans to place a fourth mobile pharmacy unit in the Western U.S. (Mosquera, Government Health IT News, 3/19).



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