News Feature | April 8, 2015

EHR Legislation To Help Military Families Reintroduced

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

New Proposed Patent Troll Legislation Supported By Merchant Coalitions, Retailers

The proposed legislation would help achieve an integrated EHR between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Representative Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) has reintroduced the Integrated Electronic Health Records For Military and Veterans Act, designed to create a public-private partnership to develop and deliver an integrated EHR system for members of the military and veterans. The goal of the act is to enhance the exchange of medical information between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in order to streamline the coordination of care and benefits claims, according to a statement.

Roe says, “Men and women that serve this country, both past and present, deserve a seamless transition back to civilian life when their service is over. In fiscal year 2014, the VA completed more than 1.3 million claims. Unfortunately, the VA is still not on track to keep their promise to completely eliminate the backlog in claims in 2015. This has gone on for far too long.”

The Integrated Electronic Health Records for Military and Veterans Act would establish a competitive process for private entities to develop an iEHR for use by the DoD and VA. Criteria for the iEHR would be established by a temporary panel, chosen by the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, and the winning contract would receive a lump sum of $50 million, with an additional $25 million per year over a period of five years for contracting and implementation.

According to iHealthBeat, the DoD and VA halted progress towards a joint integrated EHR or iEHR system in February 2013, and turned attention to making their current EHR systems more interoperable. In August 2014, DoD issued a final solicitation for bids for the $11 billion Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization contract, with Oct. 31, 2014, as the final date to submit proposals. The contract is currently under evaluation, with an award expected later this spring.

Roe defended his move, saying, “My legislation would improve communication between the DoD and VA to forever remedy this backlog and ensure our military and veterans receive the world class care they deserve. We’ve made a promise to these men and women and it’s time we deliver. My bill will start this process.”

However, Politico points out Roe's bill conflicts with DoD's current efforts to award an $11 billion contract to a company to create an EHR system for the department. Roe countered that DOD's plan would create a system that will not “be compatible with the VA system so that service members can have a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life.”