Health IT Interoperability: Finally, Someone Steps Up

Almost everyone agrees that a robust Health IT system, including an Electronic Health Record for each patient in a doctor’s practice or hospital, is a necessary innovation that would save money, reduce errors and save lives.  But even with increased investment via the stimulus bill, there are two factors holding back broad adoption:  the cost of installation and interoperability, the old problem of competing systems being unable to transfer data back and forth.  Finally, after some tinkering but not much progress among the major development companies, we have a major player with a proven electronic records system stepping up to tackle the interoperability problem head-on.

Unsurprisingly, it’s the federal government.

You see, one of the reasons the VA health care system has been so effective compared to hospitals treating similar patients is because the whole system has been utilizing VistA, its Health IT solution, for years.  Not only does it make any veteran’s entire medical history instantly available no matter which clinic or hospital he or she goes to  in a relatively error-free way, the VA uses the data in its system to strategically improve the quality of the care it provides, particularly in analyzing the effectiveness of treatments and ensuring all patients get the best screenings.  As a result, the VA exceeds nearly every other health system in the country in numerous clinical performance indicators, leading the Institute of Medicine to remark, “VA's integrated health information system, including its framework for using performance measures to improve quality, is considered one of the best in the nation.”  Others put it more bluntly:  it’s the gold standard.  And when you even have then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist showering praise on the government-run health care of the VA, and holding it up as a reason the rest of the country needs Health IT too, well, gosh, we must really be on to something.

There’s always been one big problem – VistA is not interoperable with the Department of Defense’s medical records.  Remember the old days when a document in Word Perfect couldn’t be opened in Microsoft Word?  It’s like that, only it involves an injured soldier’s personal medical history and can cause bureaucratic and administrative delays in providing appropriate care for soldiers transitioning out of the military and into the VA – including more than 33,000 soldiers who received their injuries in service to our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today, the president announced a joint Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense project to create a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record – a medical record that would follow a solider from enlistment through post-military use of the VA and allow for an easier enrollment process for transitioning veterans.  It’s a long-awaited step, and fulfills one of Obama’s campaign promises.  More importantly, investment devoted specifically to interoperability will yield lessons that can be applied by the private industry as well.  For arguably the best health care system in America, it looks like yet another opportunity to lead the way for saving money and improving quality.

(Photo credit:  John and Keturah on Flickr.)