Federal Computer Week (04/09/09) Mosquera, Mary
President Barack
Obama recently said the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments have started to
create a lifetime electronic record that would ultimately contain administrative
and medical information from the time people enter military service through
their lives as veterans. Obama said it was time “to give our veterans a
21st-century VA," adding that there is no comprehensive system that enables a
smooth transition of health care records between DOD and VA. He said that access
to electronic records is essential to modern health care delivery and the
paperless administration of benefits. The seamless exchange of records was
recommended by the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning
Wounded Warriors, which former President George W. Bush created in 2007 after
reports that bureaucratic and administrative roadblocks were preventing wounded
soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from obtaining proper care. The
departments have agreed to collaborate on a lifetime electronic health record
using a common services approach through a service-oriented architecture.
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