Commercial EHR, not VistA, for DoD
The Defense Department (DoD) is moving forward with plans to acquire a commercial EHR solution, according to a May 21 memo. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel temporarily suspended plans to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for an EHR. Since then, he said it's become clear that the DoD must pursue acquisition of a commercial system.
"A competitive process will allow DoD to consider commercial alternatives that may offer reduced cost, reduced schedule and technical risk, and access to increased current capability and future growth in capability by leveraging ongoing advances in the commercial marketplace," wrote Hagel in the memo to Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall and the Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jessica Wright.
Hagel's memo is a blow to proponents of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), who had hoped DoD would adopt Veterans Affairs's EHR in an effort to achieve optimal interoperability and continuity between the two departments.
The Defense and Veterans Affairs (VA) departments had been working on a joint development program that was to have resulted in the core infrastructure of a single system known as the iEHR but called off the project in February. The VA has continued with VistA while DoD has explored other options.
The memo said the decision to issue an RFP for a commercial EHR is the result of a 30-day review on the best path forward to deliver on its promises for the iEHR. "There are good reasons for VA to have selected its legacy system," wrote Hagel. "However, many of these reasons do not apply to DoD. Also, based on DoD's market research, a VistA-based solution will likely be part of one or more competitive offerings that DoD receives."
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson will pursue a full and open competition for a core set of capabilities for EHR modernization, says the memo. Kendall will lead the department's efforts around healthcare records interoperability and coordinate with VA on the technical and acquisition aspects of interoperability.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.