GAO Calls on VA, DOD to Better Share Medical Data.

UNITED States. Government Accountability Office ; UNITED States. Dept. of Veterans Affairs ; UNITED States. Dept. of Defense

The article reports on the call by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to improve efforts in standardizing health records in the U.S. There is a need for a clearly defined project management plan in spite of the already existing systems for health information sharing that were developed by the two agencies. Both agencies are urged to fully populate repositories that will store health-related data from both organizations to aid in data sharing. The GAO also questioned claims by the two agencies regarding the status of the Federal Health Information Exchange program, which facilitates the secure exchange of data between the two parties.