VA medical centers to gain instant access to veterans’ Defense Department records

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - VA medical centers will soon be able to instantly access veterans’ Department of Defense records for the first time.

The change is expected to go live June 6 using a new app called My HealtheVet.

Zach Sage, director of the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, said the system works similarly to MyChart.

“One of the big things that this health record gives us is it gives us complete continuity with the Department of Defense health record,” Sage said. “So an active duty service member’s health record will flow right into the VA health record, which it doesn’t do now.”

Delays due to old software

The rollout was delayed by old software. Despite a large investment in new software from the Department of Defense years ago, the transition has taken time.

“It’s something that we have to build and build a plane as it’s flying kind of thing, because we have an existing health record that we have to transition over to this new one too,” Sage said.

The Columbus VA has been live on the system for a while, Sage said.

App features

The My HealtheVet app will allow veterans to access their appointments, labs, test results and communicate with care teams through secure messaging.

“The biggest change for this system is the documentation and the care coordination that happens behind the scenes with our staff and the new electronic health record,” Sage said.

Sage said the system will give greater capabilities for pulling in records from other non-VA providers and assessing all of that in the veteran’s care plan.

Veterans can download the My HealtheVet app to access their records and check on the status of their appointments.

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