The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and 13 health care systems have signed a pledge for interoperability—to securely share data on veteran health care, regardless of whether it is provided inside the VA or not.
“This pledge will improve veteran health care by giving us seamless, immediate access to a patient’s medical history, which will help us make timely and accurate treatment decisions,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, MD, MBA. “It will also empower VA to send helpful information to our partner health systems that they can then offer to veterans in their care—including information about new benefits we are offering under the PACT Act, no-cost emergency suicide care, and more.”
The pledge will allow the health systems to access local, state, and federal health resources and will provide the VA access to health system clinical and administrative data for quality assessment and care coordination. The pledge signers are committed to developing and providing capabilities that: (1) Accurately identify veterans when they seek care from clinicians in [the signers’] communities; (2) Connect veterans with VA and community resources that promote health and health care—especially VA services that lower veterans’ out-of-pocket expenses; and (3) Responsively and reliably coordinate care for shared patients—including exchanging care information requested and provided.
In addition to helping reduce the financial burden for veterans, the VA says, the information sharing could help clinicians outside the VA system to provide more targeted care: “[I]t will also allow us to send helpful information to our partner health systems that they can then offer to veterans in their care,” Elnahal said, “to include information about new benefits we are offering under the PACT Act and other resources that assist with suicide prevention and identifying social risk factors."
The first pledge partners are Emory Healthcare, Inova, Jefferson Health, Sanford Health, University of California Davis Health, Intermountain Health, Mass General Brigham, Rush Health, Tufts Medicine, Marshfield Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Health Plan and Hospitals, University of Pittsburg Medical Center, and Atrium Health. Any health system or clinician that supports the pledge’s objectives is encouraged to participate, the VA says. Signers have begun work, and aim to provide proof-of-concept in early 2024.