VA will leverage health data exchange services from DirectTrust to improve interoperability with community hospitals and clinics.
VA has joined the DirectTrust Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle as part of an effort to improve interoperability between VA care providers and community hospitals and clinics across the country.
By joining DirectTrust’s anchor bundle, VA healthcare providers will be authorized to access DirecTrust’s national network of 1.8 million endpoints.
The healthcare industry alliance will help VA securely exchange protected health information (PHI) with provider organizations and between patients and their providers to improve care coordination and enable better-informed clinical decision making.
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VA healthcare providers will have the opportunity to engage in health data exchange with thousands of community hospitals and clinics across all 50 states and US territories. The DirectTrust framework helps to improve EHR interoperability by giving users access to a single, trusted on-ramp for information sharing across a network that connects over 350 certified EHR systems from different vendors.
“Admission to the DirectTrust Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle certifies that an organization has established and upheld a superior level of trust for its stakeholders, which is a significant distinction. Kudos to VA’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards in privacy, security, and trust in identity,” said DirectTrust President and CEO Scott Stuewe.
DirectTrust Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle includes Health Information Service Providers, Certificate Authorities, and Registration Authorities. These stakeholders have each earned accreditation through the DirectTrust HISP Accreditation Program or the DirectTrust-EHNAC Trusted Agent Accreditation Program for CA and RAs.
“VA Direct Messaging’s participation in the DirectTrust Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle will open significant new opportunities for VA personnel to securely share Veterans’ health information through Direct Messaging in every community in the country,” said Margaret Donahue, MD, Director of VA’s Veteran’s Health Information Exchange Program.
“This is a major step to increase care coordination with community (non-VA) providers who also provide care for our Veterans,” she added.
By joining DirectTrust’s anchor bundle, VA providers can leverage Direct messaging between HISPs in a uniform and scalable way. Direct messaging standards are consistent with industry best practices for security and trust, which helps to eliminate the need for one-off negotiations between health data exchange partners.
VA is currently in the process of implementing its $10 billion Cerner EHR implementation across all care sites.
Travis Dalton, President of Cerner Government Services, said during a February 2019 investment community meeting that the EHR implementation will launch across VA care sites by 2028.
As part of VA’s EHR modernization effort, the federal agency is working to establish interoperability between VA and the Department of Defense.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and VA Secretary Robert Wilkie signed a joint statement to confirm their commitment to enabling interoperability between DoD and VA in October 2018.
“The joint statement between DOD and VA represents tangible evidence of our commitment to change how we deliver Veteran-focused, provider-friendly care,” said Wilkie. “The new EHR system will be interoperable with DOD, while also improving VA’s ability to collaborate and share information with community care providers.”
“This will ease the burden on service members as they transition from military careers and will be supported by multiple medical providers throughout their lives,” Wilkie continued.
As part of the joint statement, DoD and VA committed to developing a plan of execution that includes an accountability mechanism to facilitate coordinated decision-making and oversight, as well as a detailed timeline. The plan also includes an organizational structure that supports the delivery of a single integrated EHR system with maximum interoperability capabilities.
“We are committed to partnering with the VA to support the lifetime care of our service members, Veterans and their families,” maintained Mattis.
Date: April 05, 2019
Source: EHRIntelligence
