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DoD And VA to Work Together To Find Custodial Agent

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently posted notice they were looking for a custodial agent to establish and moderate an environment in which open source electronic health records (EHRs) are developed. The Department of Defense (DoD) will participate in the VA's selection process.

The VA and the DoD have different approaches to developing and maintaining EHRs. It is not surprising, then, that since the DoD and VA first met on this issue, new issues have developed between the two agencies.

The main disagreements have focused on if the joint EHR final solution will be open sourced or proprietary. Further, they disagree on how much of the EHR system will be "standards-based" and how much will be "actual shared application."

The VA and DoD have been working separately and together to develop a joint EHR platform that can be appropriately governed. Although both agencies have taken different approaches toward making that happen, there have been many processes in which they have reached a common ground to include:

 

• data standards;
• data center consolidation;
• clinical applications; and
• user interfaces.

 

The VA originally sought a custodial agent to manage EHR possibilities in an open source environment. The VA plans on changing as much of the code as possible in which EHRs are currently written. The DoD will play an active role in not only choosing the custodial agent but the agent's duties.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.