Social Security Administration Linking Data with Microsoft HealthVault

If you are a regular reader here, I have been keeping up on the progress with Social Security and personal health records and now we are down to having a prototype linking the 2 together. The main focus here has been for disability benefits. Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston has had a pilot program ongoing for close to a year now with the exchange of healthcare data. You can find more information under the related reading links below.

Social Security likes PHRs too – wanting to work with EMR and PHR software with pilot program

I have my 85 year old mother setup with HealthVault and I help her out and we work together on placing information in her account, to include her advanced directive and this is really helpful being we are geographically separated with me in California and her in Arizona. It’s nice to have this digitally stored in case I need access should anything happen. With disability claims this will speed up the process of getting information into the files and maybe even expedite the process. In other related items Social Security is updating their data system to a more modern system before capacity is an issue with their current COBOL system.

Social Security begins taking online applications – Available now

We are back to the algorithms that make this process happen, it’s all about software and getting collaborated and aggregated data where it needs to be. BD

The Social Security Administration is linking up with Microsoft to investigate ways that the software giant’s HealthVault personal health record could be used to speed the SSA’s disability benefits process.

A technical prototype linking the two organizations’ services is expected to be available later this year. The SSA said it will also collaborate with Microsoft on the study of current personal health records standards, and how any gaps in those standards could be bridged.

SSA has been working since earlier last year with both the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic on pilot programs for doing just that. It’s also been working with two health information exchanges, the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance and MedVirginia, on ways to use the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) for records retrieval.