Utah develops pilot rural VA HIE

The Utah Health Information Network (UHIN) has developed a pilot program to connect healthcare providers in the Moab, Utah region, with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to help patient care coordination and access to healthcare services for Veterans and service members.

As the state designated health information exchange (HIE), UHIN has partnered with Axolotl to enable clinical HIE to the VA using Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) protocols, the Murray, Utah-based UHIN stated.

The initiative is the first pilot to extend services to rural areas in a series of nationwide pilot programs to expand services to Veterans through NHIN, and among the first to electronically link VA clinicians’ patient data with physicians and services generated at non-VA facilities located across the state. Authorized physicians will be able to query and view documents from the clinical HIE or VA-participating physicians located in the rural communities, UHIN added.

The San Jose, Calif.-based Axolotl’s Inter-HIE Gateway will provide the exchange of documents between the clinical HIE and NHIN partners in the area, including the VA. Allen Memorial Hospital in Moab will be the amongst the first UHIN community providers to participate in the pilot.

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