DOD, VA Not Working Well Together on Digital Medical Records, GAO Says

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments aren't working effectively together to create a joint health architecture, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The departments have conducted pilot projects under the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record development program and have combined digital record systems in a pilot implementation at a jointly operated medical center in Chicago.

However, DOD and VA face barriers in planning for specific goals and time frames for jointly fixing their health IT requirements, GAO said in its report dated Feb. 2.