The Department of Veterans Affairs will soon launch a new electronic health record system interface that is designed to share data with the Department of Defense's EHR system, increasing interoperability between the agencies, FCW reports.

Interface Details

The interface, called the Enterprise Health Management Platform, is a Web-based system that relies on applications and widgets to provide data regarding patients':

• Allergies;
• Clinical visits;
• Lab results;
• Medical conditions;
• Prescribed medications; and
• Vital signs.

In addition to sharing data with DOD, the interface will allow VA providers to access and update patient records at different facilities. Providers will be able to customize the way they view patient data and use the system to:

• Track patients' specific conditions; and
• View short-term and long-term care plans.

The system also will allow providers to search medical records.

Further, the system will operate in tandem with a new DOD EHR system. According to FCW, DOD is expected to announce the vendor for the project this summer (Mazmanian, FCW, 6/12).

According to NextGov, pilots of the new VA system will be launched in Oregon and Texas in July. All VA facilities are expected to have access to the program by 2017, with VA's current interface to be phased out by 2020 (Ravindranath, NextGov, 6/12).