Noteboom The Law Firm

Electronic Health Record System Needs Better Plan

September 29, 2010 - The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are both upgrading their electronic health record (EHR) systems. The Senate Appropriations Committee wants the particulars on just how the DoD plans on bring their system into a union with the VA's EHR system.

Both agencies share almost all the same requirements for their systems and have recently started to interconnect the two. This has become necessary in order to bring the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) project to fruition.

The Senate Committee approved the 2011 Defense appropriations bill last week and is overseeing both agencies and their progress. An attached report did not include any detailed information from the DoD or the VA as to how they planned on modernizing their respective systems.

The report did not make mention of the VLER. Nor did it include any real detailed plan from the two agencies about coordinating to meet their shared requirements. Without that plan, the committee fears both departments will pursue independent goals, which will most likely result in higher overall costs. Both agencies must remain more focused and in order to make that happen, they must develop and implement a strategic plan.

The committee gave both the DoD and the VA 90 days from their enactment of the Defense Bill to provide a plan. That plan must be a joint undertaking and must focus specifically on those areas where the departments share common requirements.