The fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill has followed on the heels of the defense appropriations bill in requiring the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments to make progress toward the interoperability of their medical records.
The defense authorization measure contains detailed requirements for the establishment of an interagency office for that purpose as a well as a schedule of benchmarks and reports to Congress.
The main purpose of the authorization bill is to allow spending totaling $696 billion in the current fiscal year for the military functions of DOD and for activities of the Energy Department. That sum includes $142 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The House of Representatives passed the measure on Dec. 12 and it is expected to be approved by the Senate and signed by President Bush in a matter of days.
The fiscal 2008 Defense appropriations bill, which the president signed into law in November, includes a provision requiring DOD and VA to report to Congress next March on progress toward establishing a joint electronic medical record.
The authorization bill goes further, mandating that DOD and VA jointly develop and implement electronic health record systems that allow for full interoperability of personal health care information between the two departments.
That task is to be accomplished through an interagency program office. The office is mandated to implement an interoperable electronic health record system by September 30, 2009, under the legislation.
The interagency office is also required to establish a schedule and a deadline for the establishment of requirements, acquisition and testing for the systems within 30 days. The office must also report to Congress annually on the progress being made by the two departments toward full interoperability.
From the battlefield to the home front: Managing medical data
Government Health IT presents Col. Claude Hines Jr., program manager for the Defense Health Information Management System, in this recent InSight eSeminar. Col. Hines discusses the health information technology and tactical challenges faced by the military medical community in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of conflict. In doing so, he describes the current information technology solutions for transferring clinical data between battlefield care givers to health care personnel at military treatment facilities worldwide.
