The Veterans Data Integration and Federation Enterprise Platform (VDIF EP), a health information exchange developed for and used by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), was recently awarded the 2022 FedHealthIT Innovation Award. Recognized for its ability to unify patient information throughout the care continuum for VA, VDIF EP leverages technologies from InterSystems to drive better quality care for veterans.
Announced in 2020, VDIF EP is a health information exchange platform used by VA clinicians and administrative staff, as well as providers outside the VA, to produce a longitudinal patient record by aggregating and normalizing clinical data across its existing electronic medical record systems. In doing so, it relieves the need for clinicians to hunt for medical information from multiple sources – enabling them to focus on caring for the veteran in front of them.
Working alongside VA for four decades, InterSystems has been a forerunner in the management of critical data since its founding in 1978 and helps customers around the world drive digital transformation initiatives to get the most out of their data. This award recognition reflects the success of the longstanding collaboration between InterSystems and VA and underscores the criticality of interoperability to improve health outcomes for our nation’s veterans.
“The need for quality healthcare for veterans and their families cannot be overstated,” said George Hou, Head of Solutions for the Department of Veteran Affairs at InterSystems. “Quality care starts with improved data-sharing and improved collaboration across VA’s health system and individual patients’ care continuums. This award is a testament to the profound impact these solutions have on delivering the right care and decision-making information to veterans and their care providers at every step of the health journey.”
Based on InterSystems HealthShare®, VDIF aggregates and normalizes data from 130 different electronic medical record instances to support its 172 VA medical centers and more than 1,000 outpatient clinics. With VDIF, veterans’ longitudinal patient records are available to providers within Veterans Health Administration (VHA) as well as to external providers, enabling their providers to see their entire care history, regardless of where they seek care. Through VDIF, the exchange of data is streamlined to guarantee accurate, high-quality care for veterans, no matter where they seek care from.
The 2022 FedHealth IT Awards recognize and honor the federal health technology and consulting community by celebrating programs for driving innovation and results across VA, the Military Health System, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The InterSystems – VA partnership also received recognition for the Community Care Referral and Authorization (CCRA) program, delivered by Cognosante. In 2021, the CCRA program won both the Washington Exec Pinnacle Awards for Government Project of the Year and a FedHealthIT Innovation Award.
