From: FierceGovernmentIT
By Molly Bernhart Walker
The forthcoming integrated electronic health record, or iEHR, will use Janus as the basis for its graphical user interface, said the interagency program office in a statement relayed by Veterans Affairs Spokesperson Josephine Schuda.
During an Aug. 2 press call, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker said, “Janus is the early implementation of [the GUI] for the iEHR and will be part of the iEHR.”
Janus, a joint VA-Defense Department interface used at a limited number of facilities, provides a combined view of DoD’s Composite Health Care System and VA’s VistA Computerized Patient Record System, according to the VA-DoD Pacific Joint Information Technology Center.
The Janus-based GUI is being piloted at Tripler Army Medical Center and Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center in Honolulu, the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, and the Palo Alto, Calif. VA Medical Center, said the IPO. The Palo Alto facility was not part of the initial GUI pilot outlined by Baker in May 2011.
During a July 25 House hearing, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said he and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saw a demo of the interface at the North Chicago facility in May 2012. “It is impressive, and it represents a major step forward for the iEHR,” he said.
The next step, said the IPO, is to stand up a commercially-available framework that will allow different interface applications, “called portlets” to plug into the portal backbone. The portlets will be standards-based, modular and some may be open source, said the IPO statement.
“The current user interface implemented under Janus is aimed at the clinical outpatient side of things,” explained Baker. “What they’re working on right now is, in effect, an iEHR portal that will have a variety of different ways of interacting with the data.”
The portlets may provide a mental health interface, emergency room interface or a surgery interface, said Baker.
“There’s a lot of development to go,” he said. The GUI “is the area that is most amenable to change and advancement and other people participating in.”
The final version of the GUI will be in place for the iEHR’s initial operating capability in fiscal 2014, said the IPO in a statement.
For more: – listen to the press call
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