Electronic Health Records: Program Office Improvements Needed to Strengthen Management of VA and DOD Efforts to Achieve Full Interoperability

Abstract : For over a decade, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have been working on initiatives to share electronic health information. To expedite their efforts, Congress mandated in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 that VA and DoD establish a joint interagency program office to act as a single point of accountability in the development of electronic health records systems or capabilities that allow for full interoperability (generally, the ability of systems to exchange data) by September 30, 2009. In this statement, GAO summarizes findings from its upcoming report, focusing on progress in setting up the interagency program office and the departments' actions to achieve fully interoperable capabilities by September 30, 2009. To do so, GAO analyzed agency documentation on project status and conducted interviews with agency officials. GAO's draft report recommends that the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs emphasize the interagency program office's establishment of a project plan and integrated master schedule to guide their interoperability activities.