iEHR Time Frame 'Optimistic And Uncertain'

The 4 to 6 years Veterans Affairs Department officials have projected as the time necessary to build out a nationwide integrated electronic health record with the Defense Department is "both optimistic and uncertain," the Government Accountability Office says iEHR officials told them.

In a report (.pdf) dated Sept. 28, auditors say they interviewed officials from the Integrated Program Office set up by the VA and the DoD to implement the iEHR in April, and it was then that program officials expressed doubt about the 4-to-6-year time frame--which has been repeated many times by VA officials...

Program officials told auditors that funding isn't the constraining factor, since iEHR efforts have received $900 million from inception through the current fiscal year, including $550 million during fiscal 2012 alone. Rather, the uncertainty stems from the office not being fully staffed and a lack of final plans for how iEHR will be developed and implemented, "given that many decisions had yet to be made."...