“The Department of Veterans Affairs said it’s prepared to give lawmakers a clear answer to the question that’s been nagging the agency since VA first announced plans to implement a commercial electronic health record (EHR) and achieve interoperability with the Pentagon.”
“When push comes to shove, who between the two departments is in charge?”
“Jim Byrne, VA’s acting deputy secretary and general counsel, said a joint DoD-VA “tiger team” has evaluating existing governance models and will offer a report later this month that may describe an alternative structure…”
“Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, said he was concerned VA wasn’t briefing lawmakers with enough regularity and detail about ongoing changes to the EHR budget.”
“Schatz acknowledged that Congress will likely need to appropriate money to maintain VA’s current Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) system, for example, but the committee needs a better timeline and more detail from VA…” Read the full article here.
Source: Senators still seeking answers on joint DoD, VA leadership structure to manage EHR overhaul – By Nicole Ogrysko, February 5, 2019. Federal News Network.
