DOD, VA still struggling to share EMR data

So you think you're facing interoperability headaches? Try this project on for size. According to reps from the U.S. Department of Defense and the VA, the two have been struggling to share complete EMR data on active military and veterans for nine years without success. The agencies have been sharing text records, including discharge summaries and emergency department reports, but they won't be able to share other key classes of patient data until at least next year, according to Congressional testimony by Dr. Gerald Cross, the VA's principal deputy undersecretary of health for the Veterans Health Administration.

Members of Congress, in this case the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, can't have been too pleased with the news--particularly given that the two agencies have spent a collective $1.8 billion on health records initiatives since 1998. (OK, it apparently takes a Kaiser Permanente to spend the really big EMR bucks, but still...)

Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office isn't too happy either, given that it hasn't yet seen a comprehensive plan for EMR data sharing from the two agencies. However, GAO officials did note that the VA and DoD have made at least some progress, including creating repositories for health data.

To find out more about the two agencies' health data plans:
- read this Computerworld piece

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