VA, DoD On Tighter Leash With iEHR

Bipartisan bill holds iEHR money hostage

Members of Congress are lauding a bipartisan bill that limits funding for an integrated electronic health record system between VA and DoD and requires aggressive progress updates from both agencies, which have, in recent months, come under fire for the dilatory pace at which they're moving forward with the iEHR. 

At a subcommittee mark-up hearing Wednesday, John Culberson, R-Texas, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies, called the bill a bipartisan success. "Our bill this year has dealt with the failure of DoD and VA to develop a single unified medical record in a very straightforward, commonsense way," he said. 
 
The bill, Culberson explained, will limit the funding toward the iEHR to 25 percent — of the $344 million requested. The agency will not receive the remaining dollars until they can prove to both agency subcommittees that they're actually implementing a plan to create and roll out a single, unified medical record.