VA and DOD Now Default to Sharing Patient Data with Private-Sector Providers

On Saturday, the joint Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization, or FEHRM, program office stood up the DOD and VA Health Information Exchange, which will allow medical providers at both agencies to share patient data with private-sector health care organization, such as specialists and urgent care clinics.
Both DOD and VA had major EHR management system rollouts planned for this spring but had to delay those projects as health care workers focus on combating the spread of coronavirus. However, in a letter to Congress in early April, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said work on the health exchange was on target.
The exchange includes 215 partners, with most providers able to send and receive patient data from the agencies. A few providers only share patient data in one direction, either sharing data with VA and DOD or accepting information from the agencies, but not both.