VA Tests Nationwide Health Information Exchange

The VA has joined forces with military and private-sector healthcare providers in a pilot project that tests the value of using the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) to share data among providers that care for veterans and active military personnel.

The project, if successful, could lead to a national rollout of the platform, which is a key part of the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER). But Joseph Paiva, VLER project director in the VA's Office of Information Technology, told InformationWeek Healthcare that even if the rollout gets the green light, the evolution of private health information exchanges will determine how quickly the VLER linkage spreads.

The VLER is designed to facilitate the sharing of medical, benefits, and administrative data between the VA and the Department of Defense healthcare systems. The demonstration will begin on October 1 and will run through March 31, 2012...