VA, DoD e-health records far from connected

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon have been working on a good idea for a very long time, but it's far from complete. It will make it possible for DoD e-health records to be available when a soldier retires and heads into the Department of Veterans Affairs health system.

The two agencies now share partial medical histories of about 3.3 million people, but there are significant gaps. Only about 34,000 patients have active pharmacy records, and less than 200 have recent radiology records.

In April, DoD and VA officials, along with the White House, promised a new push to make this a reality. But last week, the House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing on Capitol Hill and lamented the fact that it is not happening quickly or easily.

"This is not a technical problem; it's a bureaucratic one," said Rep. Brian Bilbrey (R-CA). "The people in control are culturally illiterate when it comes to technology. And there's the terminal disease of bureaucracy, and people protecting their turf."

Complicating this issue is the lack of a clear path to make this happen. The Pentagon has proved nearly 230 million medical records to the VA, but they aren't in any order. They are collections of pharmacy reports, lab results and health assessments. They don't provide a full medical history for most troops leaving the military.

What will it take to get this accomplished? Maybe it means a new start, putting everything in the right database as of a certain date and not looking back to previous records. It could mean a better plan and a bigger vision. Or maybe it's a task that can never be accomplished.

For more on VA and DoD e-health records:
- check out this Stars and Stripes article