The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are once again trying to get their integrated EHR (iEHR) project off the ground. Last week, the departments announced that Systems Made Simple, Inc. (SMS) has been a re-compete contract to tackle the convoluted quest to increase interoperability between the two vast legacy systems.
“As a Service-disabled, Veteran-owned Business, we are proud to be part of a project that aims to improve healthcare delivery for our nation’s Veterans and active military members,” said Al Nardslico, president and co-founder of SMS. “The VA and DoD currently run two of the largest healthcare systems in the world, and our team is dedicated to providing the right technology and services that focus on ensuring this integration effort is a success.”
Despite a Congressional thrashing earlier this year and a reshuffling of responsibilities due to long-term failures to come to an agreement about scrapping both departments’ existing systems in favor of a brand new joint EHR, the DoD and VA have decided to proceed individually while engaging SMS to bring the two EHRs closer together. SMS will create terminology translation services to shepherd data into a common format instead of building a new system from the ground up.
The DoD is currently in the process of choosing a new commercial EHR to replace their legacy Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (ALTHA), which will no doubt need to be finalized before SMS can begin work on integrating anything. While the DoD does not participate in the EHR Incentive Programs and meaningful use, the solicitation for vendors included the requirement that products be certified for Stage 1 by the ONC. The VA, meanwhile, is making ongoing improvements to its VistA applications, but will stick with the framework for the foreseeable future.
The decision to proceed with an interoperability bridge came after revelations that the military poured nearly $30 billion into the stalled joint EHR project before calling it quits. With no results and plenty of embarrassments under his belt, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions Frank Kendall told Congress in July that “it is crucial to note that a seamlessly integrated and interoperable electronic health record with full data exchange and read/write capability can be achieved without DoD and VA operating a single healthcare management software system.”
