Integration & Interoperability News

Event Notification EHR Integrations May Promote Primary Care Coordination

VHA primary care teams reported that an event notification EHR integration helped improve care coordination and fill in information gaps.

Event Notification EHR Integrations May Promote Primary Care Coordination

Source: Getty Images

By Hannah Nelson

- Primary care teams at two Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers found an event notification EHR integration for admissions and discharges improves care coordination, according to a new study published online in JAMIA.

Care coordination is key to ensuring high quality treatment. Currently, when patients are discharged from an ED or hospital in one system, their records are often not updated with the patient's primary care physician. This means that in some cases months can go by before providers learn of the health event from a patient themselves.

This can be a particular challenge in the VHA, where patients get their care from a VHA provider but sometimes visit non-VHA hospitals.