Thomas J. Verbeck

See the following -

DoD: New EHR not about interoperability with VA

Tom Sullivan | Healthcare IT News | July 30, 2015

When Defense Department officials briefed reporters prior to announcing that the Cerner, Leidos and Accenture team won its EHR modernization contract, they were adamant that so much speculation about the DoD’s ability to share patient information with the Department of Veterans Affairs had been unfounded. "There is not a big interoperability problem with the VA and DoD today," said Frank Kendall, DoD Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. "It’s a big misconception out there that this software system we’re buying is about interoperability." Read More »

Is DoD's EHR modernization bound to fail?

Jack McCarthy | Healthcare IT News | July 28, 2015

...some are saying the system, the most expensive EHR investment of its kind, is bound for failure, while others suggest the contract itself should be delayed pending further review. Thomas J. Verbeck, a CIO and a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, recently wrote that sharing data is essential for the DoD because it will speed healthcare delivery and save lives, as well as reduce healthcare costs, prevent medical errors and avoid unnecessary testing. "But the DoD's plan will fail," Verbeck wrote in The Fayetteville Observer. "That's because most of today's EHR systems, including the bidder finalists, are designed only to work within their own system.

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Thomas Verbeck: Sharing Medical Data Saves Lives

Thomas J. Verbeck | fayobserver.com | July 19, 2015

As a former chief information officer with a long career in information technology, my focus has intensified since the Department of Defense announced plans to spend $11 billion on a new EHR system - one that can seamlessly exchange health data for the country's nearly 10 million employees, military personnel, retirees and their families. But the DoD's plan will fail. That's because most of today's EHR systems, including the bidder finalists, are designed only to work within their own system. That allows them to charge physicians and hospitals outside their system for access to your data. DoD can demand a system that seamlessly connects health data with civilian hospitals - or the VA - but it has failed to do so.

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