Senators urge Defense, VA to combine needs for medical systems

The Senate Appropriations Committee has asked the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments for details on how they will develop new electronic health record systems for soldiers and veterans.

In a report on the fiscal 2011 Defense appropriations bill, which was posted on the Library of Congress website on Monday, the committee said it believes the programs should include plans to modernize their respective electronic health record systems measures that meet the needs of both departments so that they can reduce costs. The committee approved its version of the spending bill last week.

Panel members said they were encouraged Defense and VA recognized they have similar requirements for the systems, but they were concerned the two "have not explicitly indicated how they intend to efficiently and effectively meet these common requirements."

In a 2008 study prepared for the Military Health System, Booz Allen Hamilton reported the departments have a total of 1,800 requirements for their electronic heath record systems, 97 percent of which were similar and 3 percent were specific to each department.

The Joint Executive Council, which Defense and VA participate in, documents coordination of planning and sharing in a joint strategic plan, but the committee said the 2010-2012 version did not mention the departments' electronic health record system modernizations, or describe their approach to meet common requirements.

Defense and VA are pursuing separate electronic health record programs that might result in the creation of independent networks, the committee noted. The senators directed the departments to revise the joint strategic plan to reflect common requirements and to report the changes to the committee within days of passage of the spending bill.

In August, the Military Heath System kicked off a procurement to acquire a commercial electronic health record system to replace its AHLTA network. VA said in August it would evaluate open source software to replace its decades-old electronic health records system called the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.