Health Information Access Program

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Health Information Access (HIA) program is part of the VHA Information Access & Privacy Office within the Office of Information (OI) Health Data and Informatics (HDI) office. HIA is responsible for coordinating access to many of VHA's health information resources, including national databases, extracted datasets, and electronic health records (EHRs). The goal of HIA is to provide those who serve veterans access to the informational resources they need while always maintaining the privacy and security of veterans' health information. This is in accordance with VA Policy and Federal law, including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In line with this goal, a pilot project with the Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) is scheduled to begin in July of 2008.

Please contact the Health Information Access Team at hia@va.gov if you have any further questions.

For more information about the program, click to view the HIA Brochure.

Veterans Service Organization (VSO) Pilot

The VSO pilot is taking place at the St. Petersburg Regional Office in Florida with up to 80 participants. Pilot participants will be granted access to VA's Compensation & Pension Record Interchange (CAPRI) software, allowing them to electronically view the health information of veterans for whom their Veteran Service Organization holds a valid Power of Attorney (POA). This access will facilitate the work of Veterans Service Officers helping veterans prepare claims for VA benefits. VSO access is restricted to only those veterans' records for which a VSO holds a valid VA POA.

For information about VSO access to CAPRI:

Please email the HIA team at hia@va.gov or visit the HIA VA intranet website at http://vaww.vhaco.va.gov/privacy/HIA.htm