Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the Pentagon to restructure its approach to developing an integrated electronic health records system with the Department of Veterans Affairs, delaying a request for proposals to vendors for the program.The Pentagon was supposed to decide on a core source code and issue an RFP last month but Hagel’s decision has prevented the department from releasing the solicitation, Federal News Radio reports.
Jared Serbu writes the VA wants the Pentagon to partner in using VistA, which the government has released to open source developers.
Two months ago, the Pentagon and VA announced they would focus on making data in their separate systems more operable as opposed to building a joint, single system for both departments.
According to Serbu, Hagel has told House lawmakers he wants to update them on the Pentagon’s progress in choosing a core technology within the week.
Just a thought for Secretary Shinseki and Secretary Hagel.
The clearly laid out plan for sharing health data across a service member’s DoD service and the service member’s care as a retiree and as a veteran goes back to the early 2000s.
I led that effort first as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and subsequently as the CIO for the Veterans Health Administration. Very sadly, that clearly laid out and agreed upon plan was stopped. Again, sadly for service members and veterans, there is no resolution.
If DoD and VA are really serious about making this joint record and information sharing happen, this can be done. Is there the will to do it?
Respectfully,
Gary Christopherson