GAO: DOD, VA Need To Move On Interoperable Health Records

WHAT: GAO report on progress toward interoperable VA and DoD health records

WHY: In February 2013, the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs scrubbed an ambitious $9 billion plan to create an integrated electronic health record system in favor of maintaining separate, interoperable systems. The revised plan called for the VA to modernize its homegrown EHR system (the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, or VistA), and for the Defense Department to replace its legacy EHR system with a commercial solution.

The departments have yet to put in place cost and schedule estimates for the revised plan, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. [...]