On Tuesday, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a pilot program to connect electronic health records from the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis with patient data from other hospitals and health care centers where veterans receive treatment, the Indianapolis Star reports.
The program will allow health care providers to exchange patient information among both VA and non-VA health care facilities.
Veteran participation is voluntary for the exchange program, which will run through 2012. It is estimated that thousands of Indiana veterans might participate in the exchange (Lee, Indianapolis Star, 8/25).
How It Works
For the project, the VA hospital will collaborate with the Indiana Health Information Exchange to facilitate electronic transmission of health data through the Nationwide Health Information Network.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said participating clinicians will be able to use the network's capabilities to access patient health information, helping health care workers to reduce redundant care and testing, among other benefits (Warner, Healthcare IT News, 8/25).
The Indiana Health Information Exchange contains medical records of more than six million patients across 60 hospitals (Wall, Indianapolis Business Journal, 8/25). It also is a recipient of a Beacon Community grant, which aims to provide health care entities with the opportunity to develop ways to use health IT (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 8/25).
National Implications
Stephen Ondra -- senior policy adviser at VA -- said the department plans to use the Indiana exchange as a template to create a national program that will link non-VA and VA health records by 2013 (Indianapolis Star, 8/25).
Establishing the Indiana VA exchange also helps to advance the Obama administration's efforts in developing the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record program.
The VLER would establish a single electronic record to manage the medical information of veterans and current military service members from the time they enlist through the rest of their lives (Government Health IT, 8/25).