The MedVirginia health information exchange has started sharing patient records with the Veterans Affairs and Defense Departments in the Hampton Roads, Va., area, the second community to start testing the virtual lifetime electronic record (VLER).
MedVirginia enables the federal health agencies to access the private clinical records of veterans and service members in the region, according to a Dec. 13 announcement by the Richmond-based health information exchange.
One other VLER pilot is operational in San Diego, and three are in development in Spokane, Wash.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and a rural region of Utah.
VLER is the Obama administration's effort to develop a single electronic system to track the medical, benefits and administrative records of service members when they enlist in the military throughout the remainder of their lives as veterans.
With the Hampton Roads pilot operational, VA and DOD physicians can query MedVirginia's clinical database for their patients' information contained in the Continuity of Care Document (CCD) C32 format, a Health Level 7 standard for communicating a patient's summary clinical data.
MedVirginia said it has also established a secure method for the private physicians to query for information about their patients who are military personnel and veterans.
Since more than half of veterans and active duty service members receive some portion of their healthcare from private providers, it is essential that VA or DOD and commercial providers be able to exchange clinical records in order to deliver the most effective treatment.
MedVirginia added connectivity to four healthcare centers that are part of the area's Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System, in addition to new and existing connections among other Bon Secours hospitals and two other hospital systems in the region that are part of the health information exchange
VLER participants exchange patient data using the nationwide health information network (NHIN), a set of standards and services that enables providers to share patient data securely via the Internet.
In 2009, MedVirginia was the first health information exchange to share live patient data across the NHIN, with the Social Security Administration. It now shares information using the Connect gateway, a representation of the NHIN that was developed by federal agencies and released to the public in open source.
