Computer-Based Patient Records: Short-Term Progress Made, but Much Work Remains to Achieve a Two-Way Data Exchange Between VA and DOD Health Systems

United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2003-11-19 monographic deposited born digital 15 p. GA 1.13:GAO-04-271T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T P0b002ee180389ce5 f:d04271t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T GAO-04-271T Health care facilities Health care services Medical records Military personnel Veterans Health care cost control Electronic data interchange Information resources management DOD Composite Health Care System Federal Health Information Exchange Program Testimony A08890 Computer-Based Patient Records: Short-Term Progress Made, but Much Work Remains to Achieve a Two-Way Data Exchange Between VA and DOD Health Systems For the past 5 years, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense have been working to exchange health care data and create electronic records for veterans and active duty personnel. Such exchange is seen as a means of reducing the billions of dollars that the departments spend annually on health care services and making such data more readily accessible to those treating our country's approximately 13 million veterans, military personnel, and dependents. This is especially critical when military personnel are engaged in conflicts all over the world, and their health records can reside at multiple locations. GAO has reported on these efforts several times, most recently in September 2002. At the request of the Subcommittee, GAO is updating its observations on the departments' efforts, focusing on (1) the reported status of the ongoing, one-way exchange of data, the Federal Health Information Exchange, and (2) progress toward achieving the longer term two-way exchange under the HealthePeople (Federal) initiative. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T.pdf GAO-04-271T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-04-271T Testimony GAO-04-271T; Computer-Based Patient Records: Short-Term Progress Made, but Much Work Remains to Achieve a Two-Way Data Exchange Between VA and DOD Health Systems; Health care facilities Health care services Medical records Military personnel Veterans Health care cost control Electronic data interchange Information resources management DOD Composite Health Care System Federal Health Information Exchange Program