The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Social Security Administration have launched a new health IT initiative to streamline disability claims processing.
The Social Security Administration makes medical decisions on roughly 3 million disability claims each year, traditionally by receiving patient medical records through the mail or fax — which can take multiple months to obtain. With this new partnership, the Social Security Administration's disability case processing sites will be able to make automatic requests for medical records from all VA facilities through the eHealth Exchange.
The health IT program went live this past Veteran's Day, Nov. 11, 2016. Prior to its roll out, the agencies tested the program at multiple Social Security Administration locations.