Two of most successful EHR programs (Department of Veteran Affairs and Kaiser Permanente) has come together to form a partnership.
The VA is the largest integrated health system in the country and a longtime leader in health information technology. The VA’s partnership with Kaiser could pave the way for other public-private health record sharing programs, officials of both organizations said…
The VA-Kaiser initiative will be launched in San Diego, providing a “gateway” for clinicians from the VA and Kaiser to share patient health information including condition, medications, and allergies, among other data. Patients must authorize sharing of their information between physicians.
Sharing data between two disparate system is a non-trivial task. A lot of engineering efforts and time will be required in order for this to happen. However, without data sharing, the data stored in individual silo will be useless if a patient moves around the country. This is definitely a step in the right direction for EHR by the of the leaders in its industry.