This concept was overdue to help both VA and community providers communicate exam and diagnostic notes; as well as access lab work and personal health monitoring data from all sources. Duplication of lab tests, and lack of awareness of different diagnoses and treatments by multiple providers outside VA adds costs of healthcare while impeding positive outcomes. Not all veterans get to communicate concisely what treatments they receive between VA and Community providers. Also the advent of personal health monitoring technologies should be fully exploited to share data among all healthcare providers for the benefits of early symptom warnings, as well as the more realistic picture of total health that providers can leverage for better outcomes. To that end, reports need to be built into the apps to better communicate the data on focus areas such as Cardiology, Diabetes, Respiration, to name a few. Also a wider outreach to connect community providers is vital to sharing data in regions where there are few healthcare providers per capita, and even fewer specialists, as providers leave the field.
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