DoD, VA Joint E-health Record Ahead of Schedule

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are ahead of schedule on the development and implementation of an integrated electronic health record system, said Barclay Butler, director of the Defense-VA interagency office. Butler said part of the reason for their early success is the lessons the two agencies have learned from pilot programs under the initiative, specifically the current test case in Chicago.

Butler said project leaders better understand the importance of medical professionals working together, and how critical it is for them to have one secure environment for all of the health records, said Butler in an interview with The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp. "We learned we need to have a single medical enclave to support the exchange of information," Butler said. "We can't have separate areas with separate firewalls."...