News on New Electronic Health Records Integration

Obama Announces Effort To Create New Electronic Health Record System for Veterans That Will Link DOD, VA Records 04/13/09. The new program is a part of DOD's $47 billion health care budget for fiscal year 2010, the Obama administration said. According to the administration, VA's overall budget is set to increase by $25 billion over the next five years (Hefling, AP/Kansas City Star, 4/9). Currently, the two agencies have different medical systems, which has led to delays for veterans entering the VA system and a six-month backlog in disability claims at VA (CongressDaily, 4/9). White House officials said that the goal is to integrate the two systems, but no details have been released about how that could be achieved, the Post reports (Washington Post, 4/10). Kaisernetwork.org