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VA prioritized development of Benefits Intake APIs to enable digital submission of Veteran claims, eliminating the administrative burden of faxing or mailing paper forms, reducing claims adjudication time by up to 6 days. Now, thanks to the VA Lighthouse API platform, a Veteran can choose to securely share his or her VA health records with third parties, enabling innovative and beneficial uses of that data. VA is the largest healthcare provider in the United States, but until recently, Veterans were unable to digitally share their VA records with third-party applications.
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In years past, the process of applying for and obtaining access to VA benefits (such as disability compensation) was time-consuming, difficult and slow, causing Veterans to wait weeks, or often months to receive an award decision.
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VA provides critical services and benefits to more than 19 million Veterans. The API capability simplifies and streamlines Veteran access to VA data and services, while reducing administrative burden. Currently, Veterans can consent to share their VA records with several third party applications including Apple Health, iBlueButton, OneRecord Health and others. Through the Lighthouse API platform, Veterans are empowered to share their data with trusted third parties in a secure, controllable manner. The Lighthouse Application Programming Interface (API) platform provides a portfolio of public-facing APIs, allowing third parties to “plug into” the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to send and retrieve data, like plugging an appliance into a wall socket.