Joint electronic health, benefits record pursued for vets, families

In an effort believed to have been started by the White House, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have created a group dedicated to forming a join lifetime electronic health record exclusively for military members, past and present, and their families. 

Rear Adm. Gregory Timberlake will chair the group, aimed at creating "a record which will cover everything from the accession of the service member to an application to the Veterans Cemetery Authority." He says that the new record will be developed using service-oriented architecture. 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki initially talked about the project with the White House staff before it was unveiled by Timberlake to the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association last week. 

"We provide healthcare 24-7," Timberlake said. "We can't shut the system down while we do a rip and replace. Instead, we can develop capabilities incrementally and upgrade the system as we retire legacy components." 

To learn more about the combined effort:
- here's the Government Health IT article

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