Clinicomp, a health IT vendor, has been given a five-year contract extension by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to continue supplying an EHR system to 43 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMC) across the country. In-patient situations, such as emergency, procedural care, critical care, and medical surgery, are supported by the EHR system.
- Assistance: The health IT provider assisted an EHR implementation of a COVID-19 clinical surveillance monitoring system for VA hospitals at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This integration allowed doctors to keep track of patients who were in danger or were on the verge of being at risk, allowing for better critical care coordination. Officials emphasized that the technology also assisted healthcare companies in managing key resources such as ventilators throughout the pandemic.
- Contract: The current VHA contract renewal comes after the Defense Health Agency awarded the EHR vendor a support contract in April 2020. For the next seven years, the EHR vendor will serve the Department of Defense’s 64 Military Treatment Facilities (MTF) in the United States and internationally. The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded Medicom five new contracts aimed at improving health data exchange interoperability.
- Awardees: The contract awards will allow VISN 21, VISN 2, VISN 9, the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in VISN 10, and the VA Illiana Health Care System in VISN 12 to join Medicom’s Health Information Network, which currently has 15 VA members. These new network additions will improve health information interchange for the 2.9 million veterans who seek care at 38 VA Medical Centers in 21 states and provinces.
- Exchanges: The network supports the exchange of health records as well as medical imaging. Currently, medical images and diagnostic results are often brought to and from the VA on CDs and DVDs. This often results in delays in diagnoses and care delivery, not to mention costs to the VA estimated at $163-181 million per year.
- Claimants: The health IT company claims that their network allows for data indexing, search, and retrieval. This implies that providers like the VA can use the platform to electronically retrieve required photographs and documentation from community sources, eliminating the requirement for CDs and DVDs.
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