“Comprehensive data-sharing programs recently launched by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have boosted the response to COVID-19 outbreaks and limited the spread of the virus.”
“The pandemic alerted congressional leadership to the necessity of well-funded, modernized IT infrastructure across agencies that manage healthcare and emergency response. Congressman Frank Mrvan, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology Modernization within the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the VA’s modernized electronic health records (EHR) system helped ensure patient information is stored and easily accessible while providing essential care at GovernmentCIO Media & Research’s Digital Services: Health IT event.”
“‘We’re especially focused on the electronic health medical modernization program,’ he said at the event. ‘We are working on two fronts. The transition of the electronic medical records – making sure we do it effectively, efficiently, making sure that we have effective and accountable reporting, making sure that the infrastructure is in place, that the experts who are working on this are moving in a direction of teamwork, and the training and schedule scheduling is on time – and that we’re doing it efficiently and effectively.'”
“Against the backdrop of ongoing modernization, federal agencies mobilized a large-scale data-sharing initiative to respond to a nationwide pandemic and provided support to hospital networks managing an unprecedented level of strain while balancing COVID-19 triage…”
“This process of using COVID-19 testing data and health information to prevent viral spread extended to intra-agency projects designed to better understand the virus, including collaboration between the VA and HHS with critical assistance from the Department of Energy’s advanced computing projects…” Read the full article here.
Source: Data-Sharing is Essential for the Federal COVID-19 Response – By Adam Patterson, September 17, 2021. GovernmentCIO.
