Industry Insight

Contract Awarded to Enhance Interoperability for VA Benefits Records Systems

CACI International has received a task order award to provide core development support for the VA’s Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) program. With a value of $14 million, this 18-month contract is one of 25 that CACI has received under the $91 million VLER prime contract.

VLER is an across-the-board solution that consolidates electronic health and benefits records of Armed Forces members for exchange within the VA and externally to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Under the VLER Core Development task order, CACI will build the Data Access Service (DAS), a key component of VLER that will electronically move data throughout various VA and external systems, helping veterans receive their benefits faster. The company's use of flexible, modular technology to build DAS enables VLER to easily, quickly, and cost-effectively connect disparate systems.

— Source: CACI International

 

Michigan and Indiana Patients, Doctors Benefit From Sharing EHRs

Michigan doctors treating patients from Indiana and Indiana physicians treating Michigan patients can now securely and seamlessly exchange health records to ensure the best care. Michigan Health Connect (MHC), the state's largest health information exchange (HIE), and Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN), an HIE serving health care providers in Michigan and Indiana, are partnering to share information that is vital to patient health.

"As an HIE that rests near the border of two neighboring states, it is important for us to extend our mission to those patients who cross these borders for care every day," says Tim Roberts, CEO of MHIN.

Both HIEs are uniquely positioned to expand secure communication across state lines. Earlier this year, MHC implemented secure exchange with Ohio, and MHIN established a cross-state immunization exchange with the Michigan Care Improvement Registry. Both plan to grow interstate connectivity with HIEs across the nation as national standards and protocols evolve.

The partnership replaces nonelectronic communications with faster, more comprehensive, standardized, HIPAA-compliant electronic messaging among authorized physicians and personnel, which means physicians have information when and where they need it.

— Source: Michiana Health Information Network

 

CHIME Announces New Board Members

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has announced the election of members Cara Babachicos, CHCIO; Indranil Ganguly, MBA, CHCIO, FCHIME; and Marc Probst to its board of trustees.

Babachicos is the chief information officer (CIO) and corporate director of information systems for the community hospitals and nonacute sites at Partners Healthcare and has 25 years of experience working in health care information systems. She is a member of the CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp faculty and also teaches a course in executive project management at Harvard School of Public Health as well as in Northeastern University’s master’s program for health care informatics.

Ganguly is vice president and CIO at CentraState Healthcare System in central New Jersey. He is a member of both the Advocacy Leadership Team and Policy Leadership Council and is the CHIME StateNet coordinator for New Jersey.

Probst is CIO and vice president of information systems at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City and has more than 30 years of experience in IT and health care services. He serves on the Federal Health IT Policy Committee, which assists in developing HIT standards for the US government; is a member of the CHIME Advocacy Leadership Team; and serves as a board member on several health care related organizations, including the University of Utah School of Nursing and the Utah Food Bank.

CHIME also announced the election of David Finn, CISA, CISM, CRISC, to its foundation board of directors. Finn is the HIT officer for Symantec and has more than 30 years of experience in IT and business processes.

In addition, the current CHIME board of trustees elected officers for the 2015 board: Charles E. Christian FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO, vice president and CIO at St Francis Hospital, appointed as chair; George McCulloch FCHIME, CHCIO, deputy CIO at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, as treasurer; and Pamela Arora, vice president and CIO at Children's Medical Center of Dallas, as secretary.

— Source: College of Healthcare Information Management Executives