Hey, How About an iEHR Systems Integrator?

That’s what the Veterans Affairs Department sort of plans for the $4 billion integrated electronic health record it expects to develop with the Defense Department by 2017, based on language squirreled away inside procurement documents it released last week for a joint pharmacy system .

I say “sort of” because VA said it plans to use an integrator only for the multiple pieces of commercial software -- such as the pharmacy system -- it anticipates using for the iEHR, but by implication not for open source software packages touted for the project by VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker. Does this mean those open source packages will remain un-integrated?