The joint virtual lifetime electronic record will, among other things, help ensure a streamlined transition of health care records between the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration.
“When a member of the armed forces separates from the military, he or she will no longer have to walk paperwork from a [Defense Department] duty station to a local VA health center. Their electronic records will transition along with them and remain with them forever,” Obama said in remarks delivered near the White House.
The system will “cut through red tape” and allow new veterans to start receiving their benefits more quickly, he promised.
It’s about time. I’m glad he had the vision to start the process. I thought the Pentagon and VA already shared information.
DOD VA HIT Collaboration.pdfLisa,
I attended the HIMSS conference earlier this month in Chicago and saw the demo of the shared DOD/VA medical record. As someone who receives his care at military facilities I am very pleased to see the progress of this project. The sharing of medical records between DOD and VA is but one example of data sharing that is taking place in healthcare. DHHS is actually working on a project called the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) that will be able to tie electronic data from any organization who joins this network. Look for me to add a posting about this later.
A joint EMR system is promising. Currently, patient data from the battlefield is being recorded using joint software designed for the combat zone via MC4 systems (www.mc4.army.mil). That data is then sent back to the U.S., enabling Service members to then share that information with DoD and VA providers. A joint EMR would make sharing this data more streamlined and easier, certainly making for a better system overall.