Epic, Cerner Hospitals Now Connected to VA via APIs

All Epic and Cerner hospitals can now connect to Department of Veterans Affairs systems to identify veterans and connect them to their benefits, Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal said this week.

“Both Epic and now, as of [Sept. 18], Cerner Corporation have made code available to all of their hospital and health system customers allowing them to identify Veterans in their workflow by connecting to VA’s open API system,” Elnahal stated in a LinkedIn post. “Interoperability is changing Veteran lives — and I am so proud to be part of the team that’s getting it done.”

VA’s Veteran Interoperability Pledge program called for partners to help coordinate veteran care through accessible, shareable data.

“Connecting through our interoperable networks … will allow them to query our veteran identifier API so that [clinics] know whether they’re in front of a veteran, and then we can push all the information we have about new benefits and new opportunities for VA,” Elnahal told GovCIO Media & Research in a March interview.

According to Elnahal, Sanford Health has identified over 12,000 Veteran patients using this API, while Tufts Medicine is using the API to identify veterans in suicidal crisis and respond to them with the care and support they need, while also notifying the Boston VA medical center to conduct follow up care.

The Marshfield Clinic Health System has already informed thousands of Veterans with of PACT Act benefits that are eligible to them, while Kaiser Permanente will go live with its functions this month.

“Some of the best health care providers in the country have pledged to open APIs for them to query our veteran identifier API and for us to deliver value right at the point of care,” Elnahal told GovCIO Media & Research in March. “They’re helping us innovate and prove the case that these public-private partnerships can really impact public health.”