Senior researchers Melissa Harris and Kate Macri break down the outcomes and observations from our latest virtual event, Infrastructure: Health IT. Topics include harnessing and harmonizing data, cloud infrastructure development, and priorities at various health agencies. Featured perspectives include leadership from NIH, CMS and more.

The Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Healthcare Equity is using the agency's increasingly sophisticated data interoperability and analytics capacities to better address key areas of health care disparity. Executive Director of the Office of Health Equity Dr. Ernest Moy breaks down how VA is leveraging its increasingly modernized health IT system to identify and bridge critical care gaps and improve delivery across both geographic and demographic lines.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun a process of automating the verification of health claims, bringing together newfound collaboration between both its benefits administration and health network. Hear from VA Director of Benefit Automation Paul Shute on how the agency is merging its prior work integrating service records with a new program of using medical data to ensure veterans receive the benefits they deserve.

Upon the start of the pandemic, the Army's Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) rallied with the rest of federal health to address COVID-19. TATRC stood up the National Emergency Tele-Critical Care Network (NETCCN) to offer critical care-trained clinicians' expertise via telehealth to areas struggling with COVID-19 outbreaks. NETCCN started as a project, but federal health agencies are looking to stand it up as a program to reuse the model and capabilities for future health emergencies.

The single, common federal electronic health record (EHR) is reshaping how agencies deliver health care. Holly Joers, DHMS Program Executive Officer, outlines critical success factors in implementing the federal EHR and explains how her team will continue to build upon successes to ultimately enhance patient care.

Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have turned to health IT, from electronic medical records to telehealth, to aid providers and patients in the care setting. Our guests bring their modernization story to HealthCast and detail how these technologies have served as a boon for their medical center, especially amid COVID-19.

ONC has been at work setting up the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement, establishing information-blocking requirements, iterating on the U.S. Core Data for Interoperability and standardizing FHIR-based APIs. This groundwork is coming together to empower patients to use their health data and uplift the power of electronic health records. National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi is joining HealthCast from the 2022 HIMSS conference to tell us more.

VHA’s Innovation ecosystem is using human-centered design as the backbone of its "Reimagining Veteran Health care" project, which aims to design solutions that address critical changes in customer and employee needs and expectations following the onset of COVID-19. Brynn Cole, director of design and storytelling at VHA's Innovation Ecosystem, explains how this approach conduces more effective health solutions and builds trust with veterans.

Synthetic data has a lot of value in health research applications. One benefit to it is that it enables decision-making without compromising on patient privacy. The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding its use to improve veteran health. Amanda Purnell, VA’s data analytics and innovation director, breaks down the Arches data program where users can readily access usable, original and derived synthetic data to improve care for veterans.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented new opportunities and challenges when it comes to care and access for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Neil Evans and Leonie Heyworth discuss how they've worked together to expand health offerings, increase access to telehealth, and leverage lessons learned to combat future crises.