WASHINGTON – The continuing success of its industry-leading electronic medical record system has earned the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) a prestigious national award in information technology.

The Excellence.Gov award cites VA's collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD) on an innovative capability to exchange electronic medical record data for patients receiving care from both Departments.  Competition was among more than 80 federal executive branch information technology projects.  

The award was given by the American Council for Technology, a non-profit organization of industry and government executives who work together to improve the government’s computerized programs.

“VA patients see the benefits of our electronic patient records every time a lab test isn't repeated because the results were lost, when health care professionals can see x-rays on their laptops, when pharmacy prescriptions don't conflict with other medication,” said the Honorable R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “The VA-DoD partnership will provide the same high-quality records for all the patients treated by both Departments."

The interagency program recognized, called the Bidirectional Health Information Exchange (BHIE), permits the secure, real-time exchange of medical record data between VA and DoD, thereby avoiding duplicate testing or even surgeries.  Currently, nine military treatment facilities are able to accept health data from VA.  All VA facilities can view the military's health care information electronically.  

BHIE facilitates the uninterrupted delivery of health care to the nation’s newest veterans as they transition from active duty military status and seek care from VA.  BHIE also provides the unprecedented ability of DoD to access VA electronic health data at locations where patients receive care from both systems.

The health data exchanged to date includes patient demographic information, outpatient prescriptions, laboratory reports, radiology test results, and drug and food allergies. 

The Excellence.Gov award recognizes excellence in collaborative technologies that result in business and service improvements and use accepted standards and best practices to support shared information.  

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Larry Scott