Tech & Tools

Health Information Network Connects Rural Providers to VA

The Utah Health Information Network (UHIN) has announced a new pilot program to connect rural healthcare providers in the Moab, Utah, region with the VA to improve access and coordination of patient care for veterans and service members living in rural areas. 

As the state-designated health information exchange (HIE), the UHIN has partnered with Axolotl Corp, a provider of HIE services and solutions, to enable the clinical HIE (cHIE) connection to the VA using Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) protocols.

This is the fifth in a series of nationwide pilot programs to expand services to veterans through access to the NHIN. It is the first pilot program with the explicit mission of extending services to rural areas and among the first to enable the electronic exchange of VA patient data between VA and non-VA clinicians across the state. Authorized physicians will be able to query the cHIE to view documents from VA-participating physicians located in the rural communities.

The VA will monitor this pilot to assure that veterans’ privacy, security, and safety is the highest priority while determining whether to expand the pilot to other rural areas.

Axolotl’s Inter-HIE Gateway will enable the bidirectional exchange of documents between the cHIE and NHIN partners in the area, including the VA. Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange suite of applications, which powers the UHIN’s cHIE, provides clinicians, hospitals, and other authorized users a way to share and view patient information in a secure, electronic environment.

— Source: Axolotl Corp