VA, DOD Lack Coordinated Health IT Plan

As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) build their electronic medical record systems to serve veterans and active duty service members, both organizations lack a coordinated health information technology management plan to jointly address common healthcare business needs, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) official said.

In testimony given last week at a hearing before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Joel Willemssen, GAO's managing director for information technology, said the VA has not been able to establish shared electronic health record (EHR) capabilities with DOD in three key IT management areas--strategic planning, enterprise architecture (i.e., a description of business processes and supporting technologies), and IT investment management. As a result, this weakness in planning could further risk both departments' goal of designing a better healthcare IT network.

The VA and DOD operate two of the nation's largest health care systems, providing healthcare to 6 million veterans and 9.6 million active duty service members at estimated annual costs of about $48 billion and $49 billion, respectively. However, Willemssen said both departments, which increasingly share health information, are unable to articulate explicit plans, goals, and time frames to coordinate the health IT requirements common to both departments' EHR systems.