The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments must intensify their efforts to exchange patient health information if they wish to achieve transparency in the handling of soldiers' records, according to the Government Accountability Office.

In a report, the GAO cited two problems: patient identifiers that do not match, and VA patients who were released from active duty before 1997 and who may not have an identification number. The agencies said those problems have prevented them from successfully sharing patient health information, particularly outpatient pharmacy data.