title: Data Quality and Interoperability Challenges for eHealth Exchange Participants: Observations from the Department of Veterans Affairs' Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record Health Pilot Phase.
abstract: Authors studied the United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) Health pilot phase relative to two attributes of data quality - the adoption of eHealth Exchange data standards, and clinical content exchanged. The VLER Health pilot was an early effort in testing implementation of eHealth Exchange standards and technology. Testing included evaluation of exchange data from the VLER Health pilot sites partners: VA, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and private sector health care organizations. Domains assessed data quality and interoperability as it relates to: 1) conformance with data standards related to the underlying structure of C32 Summary Documents (C32) produced by eHealth Exchange partners; and 2) the types of C32 clinical content exchanged. This analysis identified several standards non-conformance issues in sample C32 files and informed further discourse on the methods needed to effectively monitor Health Information Exchange (HIE) data content and standards conformance.
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Botts
authors.affiliation: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bouhaddou
authors.affiliation: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Colene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mercincavage
authors.affiliation: Westat, Rockville, MD.
authors.forename: Lois
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Olinger
authors.affiliation: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hunolt
authors.affiliation: US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cullen
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000592:standards*; D066275:Health Information Exchange / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D018511:Systems Integration; D017216:Telemedicine; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs