IOM: No More DoD-VA Integrated Medical Centers Until iEHR

Additional integrated health centers along the lines of the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Ill., shouldn't be undertaken by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs until they stand up an interoperable electronic health records system, says the Institute of Medicine.

In a report commissioned by the DoD that was released Oct. 16, institute researchers say lack of EHR interoperability at the health care center costs at least $700,000 annually. The money is spent on five registered pharmacists who conduct manual checks on prescriptions to ensure that doctors without complete access to each other's systems don't accidentally prescribe medicine with negative interactions...