Vangent to boost health IT adoption for HHS

Vangent Inc. will help the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT promote the adoption of health IT under a $15.6 million contract from the Health and Human Services Department.

Under the contract, Vangent will provide the office with program management and health IT management consulting capabilities.

The company will run the Federal Health Architecture (FHA) and the Program Management Office for Connect, an open-source software solution that uses standards and governance to ensure that health information exchanges are compatible with one another, both locally and at the national level.

The contract also calls for Vangent to help improve health information exchange methods and provide subject-matter expertise as program manager for FHA and Connect.

Vangent, which serves as program manager for the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) Connect Gateway solution, will work directly with federal health care agencies, such as HHS and the Veterans Affairs Department, to further the adoption of Connect.

Under the new contract, Vangent will also support FHA integration with NHIN's Standards and Interoperability Framework and federal involvement with NHIN's Direct Project, which seeks to develop specifications for sending encrypted health information to trusted recipients via the Internet.

Vangent, of Arlington, Va., ranks No. 57 on Washington Technology’s 2010 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.