GAO: Despite Commonalities, DoD and VA Lack Health IT Jointness

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments continue to pursue individual health information technology systems rather than determine a common best approach, says a new Government Accountability Office report. The report, dated Feb. 2., recommends that the departments have a process for identifying joint system investments, given the high similarity of health IT needs at the two organizations.

The DoD is preparing a next iteration of its current collection of systems known together as AHLTA (the replacement is called EHR Way Ahead), while the VA halted in August 2010 its HealtheVet initiative to supersede its VistA system. A May 2010 DoD report done in coordination with the VA found that the departments share 10 of 13 core health IT requirements.

The departments do have underway a cooperative health IT project in what's to be the first DoD/VA medical facility operated under a single line of authority, the report notes, but the project is being treated as a pilot by both departments. The facility is the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Ill.; the health IT system there should allow caregivers to update patient information contained in AHLTA and VistA through a single user interface.