The following resources provide helpful information for Veterans and other stakeholders on VA’s effort to roll out a new electronic health record at its medical facilities nationwide.
Electronic Health Record Modernization Overview
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is committed to providing seamless care for Veterans, including access to a comprehensive electronic health record (EHR).
In May 2018, VA awarded Cerner Corp. a contract to replace its current EHR systems with a new EHR based on the same commercial off-the-shelf platform currently being deployed by the Department of Defense (DOD), Cerner Millennium.
Benefits of VA’s New Electronic Health Record
VA is working to improve the sharing of Veteran health information by implementing a new electronic health record, or EHR, which is the software that stores health information and tracks all aspects of patient care for Veterans. In addition to being shared across VA medical facilities, the new EHR is also the same one used by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and participating community health care providers.
What Veterans Need to Know About Changes to How VA’s Health Record Systems is Changing
Our nation’s Veterans deserve high-quality health care, including access to a comprehensive EHR that eliminates the need to manage cumbersome printed health records, endure repeat tests or relay basic information, such as drug allergies, to different providers. The new EHR will help improve delivery of care and simplify the patient experience.
What Veterans Need to Know About Changes to How VA Keeps Your Medical Records
How VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) effort will affect each individual Veteran depends on two primary factors: whether their records (prior conditions, lab results, etc.) already exist in a digital form and when EHRM is being implemented in their region.
Data Migration
As the first major step toward a truly interoperable EHR, VA has migrated approximately 77 billion rows (50 terabytes) of data, representing the records of 23.5 million unique Veterans, to a shared data center with DoD. This data encompasses 21 domains of clinical information relevant for Veterans’ care, including vital signs, lab results, pharmacy prescriptions, inpatient and outpatient diagnoses, procedures and more.
Data Migration FAQs
VA and Cerner transferred over 30 years of VistA health data into the same Cerner data center that hosts MHS GENESIS. This transfer included health records for 23.5 million living and deceased Veterans who have received care and benefits from VA.
VA Innovative Technology Advancement Lab FAQs
The VA Innovative Technology Advancement Lab (VITAL) teaches users how to optimize EHRM by collaboratively solving real-world problems identified by VA participants. VITAL was designed to increase EHRM adoption and speed-to-value, promote standardization and optimize the use of advanced analytics.