Valerie Melvin, director of information technology at the Government Accountability Office, testified before members of two House committees on the electronic health record interoperability efforts of the Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs.Melvin said in her written testimony published Tuesday that DoD and VA may not meet the deadline on December 2016 to deploy a modernized and interoperable EHR system.
The agencies have separate EHR modernization plans and expect to complete interoperability efforts after 2018, she added.
The testimony also summarized findings from a previous report in which GAO urged DoD and VA to establish outcome-based metrics and a corresponding time frame in which to measure progress toward interoperability.
DoD and VA continue to work with the Interagency Program Office to develop metrics and other goals for the effort.
Melvin delivered her testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s IT subcommittee and the House Committee on Veterans Affairs’ subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
