The DoD's Problem With VistA Could Be Its Solution

Defense Department intransigence on the subject of its electronic health record is well known, as is the collapse earlier this year of an effort to create a joint core system that both it and the Veterans Affairs Department would utilize.

During that collapse, those within the DoD who favor acquisition of a proprietary core system appeared to have the upper hand, as for example shown during a February congressional hearing during which DoD officials were quick to point out problems (some of them inaccurate) with the legacy VA system, the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, or VistA.

The installation Chuck Hagel--who worked as deputy administrator of the then-Veterans Administration during the Reagan administration--as defense secretary appears to have slowed down the rush to buy a proprietary system.