Vermont HIE Connects With VA

Vermont Information Technology Leaders (VITL), operators of the Vermont Health Information Exchange (Vermont HIE), and Medicity, a provider of population health management solutions, recently announced that VITL has launched its external connection to the Veterans Health Information Exchange, also known as the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) program. This makes it easier for providers inside and outside the VA to share health information for the more than 48,600 veterans who live in Vermont. 

The first external connection to the Vermont HIE, implemented by its technology vendor, Medicity, will allow clinicians at the VA to view patient records from contributing health care organizations across Vermont and the surrounding region. "As a psychologist working with veterans, I can't overemphasize just how important it is to securely share information with colleagues outside of the VA," says Kenneth Major, PsyD, a practicing psychologist at White River Junction VA Medical Center. "It's important to have a complete picture of your patient's care, no matter where they receive it." 

Likewise, health care providers in Vermont can view health data from the VA medical system using VITLAccess, the secure provider portal to the Vermont HIE. This bidirectional exchange of data can improve transitions of care between veterans and community health care facilities. Timely, accurate information may help reduce duplicative testing, lower costs, and improve the quality of care for veterans. 

This is the first network to network connection for VITL and the first Medicity connection with the Veterans HIE. "We're excited about this bidirectional exchange with the VA medical system," says John K. Evans, president and CEO of VITL. "Our organizations have been working for more than a year to put this community exchange in place, and we are proud to provide services that will help provide better care for our veterans within the Vermont health system." 

VITL selected Medicity as its technology partner in 2011 in an effort to meet its growing technology needs. Since then, Medicity and VITL have dramatically increased the number of Vermont health care organizations that are connected to the Vermont HIE. The Vermont HIE collects and indexes data directly from the EHR systems of all of Vermont's hospitals, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and 221 health care locations. The Vermont HIE delivers laboratory results and transcribed reports to the EHR systems of 134 health care locations, provides a secure provider portal to access longitudinal health records of more than two million patients, and sends data to Vermont's accountable care organizations, the Vermont Department of Health and the Vermont Blueprint for Health. 

"Medicity is proud to support our veterans and expand our population health technology solutions across the nation," says Patrice Wolfe, Medicity CEO. "Our veterans can enjoy the benefits provided by the nationwide interoperability delivered through the Vermont HIE and VLER exchange program."

Source: Medicity