Some records are already online and will follow the Continuity of Care Document format. Back in June I had posted about the pilot program with Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston which has already been up and running for disability records, also the hospital offers patients personal health records through the hospital system and their dashboard exports the records to Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault. Currently the Social Security offices spend hours manually matching disability claim information.
“By the end of August or September, we will actually be requesting real data from [Beth Israel Deaconess] and receiving real live data back, which we can use to [fold] into the medical record,” Somers said. SSA officials say they envision being able to use the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) to send authorizations to providers electronically and automatically receive the records in return.
Beth Israel is always on the cutting edge with technology. As integration and transfer of medical records continues, Social Security has also asked EHR and PHR vendors, health providers and payers to suggest how such a process could be set up, as most adhere to the CCR or HL7 
standards. This makes sense for both, and especially the PHR today, since budgets and the economy are putting restraints on some areas of expansion with EMR/EHRs.
The project is being called a “a fully automated Personal Health Records prototype system”. One more reason to think about a PHR, as in time it will be able to hold your social security records, and you can pretty much bet that Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault will be right there, my favorites as they are the most automated with vendors and the price is right, free. BD
The Social Security Administration wants to develop a prototype of a system that would automatically pull information from electronic health records to more easily deal with the more than 2.5 million disability claims it receives each year.
The agency obtains paper copies of claimants’ medical records to verify that the individuals involved are disabled. Getting those records from health care providers can take months and costs SSA more than $500 million a year.
In a request for information published today, SSA invited EHR and PHR vendors, health providers and payers to suggest how such a process could be set up. SSA already is pilot-testing records retrieval with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic.
Two regional health information exchanges, the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance and MedVirginia, have been working with SSA on the NHIN prototype.
http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350688-1.html
Related Reading:
EHRs go beyond treatment – Social Security Pilot Program with Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston
Patients can view, share health information through new Health Record Banks – Washington
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