Ramona Adams
The Defense Department and nonprofit health system SSM Health have partnered to exchange electronic health records of DoD’s active-duty service members, civilian employees, retirees and dependents.
The partnership authorizes SSM Health-affiliated care providers in Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma to access patient records of DoD employees, dependents and retirees while the department can also access SSM Health’s records, the nonprofit said Wednesday.
Richard Vaughn, SSM Health chief medical information officer, said the partnership will help prevent duplicate tests and accelerate decision-making on patient care by providing access to patients’ complete health history through SSM Health’s Epic EHR platform.
SSM Health also exchanges EHRs with the Department of Veterans Affairs using the Veterans Health Information Exchange under the Virtual Electronic Health Record program.
DoD, VHIE and SSM Health are members of eHealth Exchange — a group of federal agencies and non-government organizations that aims to improve public health reporting through interoperable health information exchange.
The Social Security Administration and SSM Health also entered an interoperability partnership in 2015 where SSM Health electronically transmits patient health records to help SSA process disability claims, the nonprofit noted.
SSM Health added its facilities use Epic’s Care Everywhere interoperability network that works to connect nationwide organizations through the Epic EHR platform.
Care Everywhere also features a built-in connection to the federal eHealth Exchange that SSM Health, VA, DoD and SSA use to exchange information.
SSM Health is comprised of 20 hospitals, approximately 60 outpatient care sites, a pharmacy benefit company, an insurance company, two nursing homes, comprehensive home care and hospice services, a technology company and two Accountable Care Organizations.
