HEALTHeLINK Selected by VA to Participate in Pilot

HEALTHeLINK, Western New York’s clinical information exchange based in Buffalo, has been selected by The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to participate in the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) Health Communities Program, a pilot project to improve the delivery of care and services to Veterans through health information technology. HEALTHeLINK will coordinate its activities with the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the initiative. The pilot project is scheduled to begin this fall.

VA will contact Veterans to participate in the pilot. A signed consent form is needed to enable a patient’s public and private sector health care providers and doctors to safely and securely access health information electronically.

This is the second time HEALTHeLINK has been selected by a federal organization to participate in a health information technology pilot program. In May 2010, HEALTHeLINK received a $16 million Beacon Community Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fight the high incidence of diabetes in the Western New York community by utilizing health information technology.