Health Information Exchange: Current projects inspiring future pathways

...It is important to understand how some of today’s HIE projects will act as stepping stones for the entire healthcare industry as we continue making strides to connect federal and state health organizations, and eventually government and private sectors. One specific organization on the forefront is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), with more than a dozen different yet interrelated projects working together as part of its pioneering Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) initiative.

The VA has long had a reputation for taking the lead on EHR initiatives, deploying its signature VistA/CPRS years ago. Now, the comprehensive VLER Data Sharing project is linking the VA’s clinical database with the Department of Defense (DoD) clinical database, resulting in a shared repository of information that includes more than 1,000 community-based outpatient clinics, 152 VA medical centers, 21 system networks, and the VA central office...