From: FierceGovernmentIT
By Molly Bernhart Walker
During a July 10 joint hearing of the House Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Committees, VA and Defense Department officials laid out plans to continue pursuing two separate electronic health record solutions with the ability to interoperate in the “near term.” This plan, according to a congressional source, has the approval of Federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel.
During a May 23 closed-door iEHR roundtable, VanRoekel said he accepted the departments’ plan to develop two separate systems and then “Frankenstein them together,” said the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“He said, they can do whatever they want and at the end we’ll make them talk,” said the source.
During the joint hearing, DoD Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall’s remarks echoed this plan.
“DoD and VA can share integrated records without having the same software to manage those records or to assist clinicians as they manage care,” said Kendall. He said the two departments were committed to “build data management accelerators” this year.
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