Civilian Medical Records Interface tool for AHLTA and VISTA

A data transformation interface based upon a standards-based data architecture will enable AHLTA (and eventually VistA) to receive, store, and view patient health records of TRICARE beneficiaries from civilian medical providers who utilize a variety of electronic health record (EHR) solutions. This will solve the problem of moving unstructured and structured data into the structured format of AHLTA from the vast multitude of EHR’s and non-digital systems. The Data Blueprint design of an architecture, built on standards (e.g., CDA-R2, HL7) will also be extensible so that additional components can be “plugged in” as required and reused across multiple document sources. Thus, components such as Natural Language Processing, Rules Engines, Digital Signature Systems, Ontology and Taxonomy engines, and other algorithmic translation technologies can be optimized and used as necessary. The Data Blueprint team includes data, AHLTA development, healthcare and research professionals who possess the expertise from a design, interface, business process and AHLTA integration standpoint to conduct the feasibility research and design required for an interface suite that will not only lead to a successful prototype to production solution to move data from civilian medical providers to AHLTA, but have the potential for data movement to VistA.