April 9, 2009 12:41 PM

Obama Announces Electronic Health Records For Vets

By
Michelle Levi
Topics
White House
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
President Obama announced this morning that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs will cooperate to launch an electronic system for storage of veterans' healthcare records called the Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record.

The president was joined by Secretary Gates and Secretary Shinseki when he made his announcement. He spoke to leaders from various veterans organizations, veteran patients and healthcare providers from veterans facilities.

Mr. Obama called the initiative a "first step towards creating one, unified, lifetime electronic health record for members of our Armed Services that will contain their administrative and medical information from the day they first enlist to the day that they are laid to rest."

There is currently no way for paperwork to get from the Departments of Defense to the Veterans Administration, the president said, noting that records are often lost or held up.

The president said he has asked both departments to work together for a "simple goal': "when a member of the Armed Services seperates from the military he or she will no longer have to walk paperwork from D.O.D. duty station to a local V.A. healthcenter. Their electronic records will transition along with them and remain with them forever."

The president recieved a hearty applause for this statement.

Mr. Obama also boasted that the 2010 budget includes the "largest single year increase in V.A. funding in three decades" and said that increased spending will total $25 billion dollars over the next five years.

"The care the veterans recieve should never be hindered by budget delays," Mr. Obama said, adding that he and Secretary Shinseki have worked to provide "advanced funding for veterans care" which he hopes will provide "a timely and predictable flow of money from year to year."

Mr. Obama said that the budget increases the number of people covered by veterans healthcare plans and meets the mental and emotional healthcare needs for returning soldiers.

In addition, the president said the 2010 budget provides the resources needed to fully implement the post-9/11 G.I. bill.

"When you come home to America, America will be there for you," the president said to the veterans in closing.

Add a Comment
by sjc_1 April 9, 2009 10:54 PM EDT
If they can computerize VA patient records, maybe they can go on the get hospitals across the nation to do it as well. There is something like only 2% of the nations hospitals that are computerized for patient data. They have billing locked down like a drum, but patient data...who cares? Considering how much we pay for health care we can do much better than this.
Reply to this comment
by homespunlady April 9, 2009 4:38 PM EDT
It does appear to be more efficient for the NEW members but the old-timers have already had things come up missing and there's no way currently to recover what's already lost.

I suspect it'll take a bit for this to be implemented as there just might be a FEW things that might go wrong

- like the time I was at an appointment an they had "computer problems" with a current system like what's being described - so they had to "take my word" on info and wait on other things until the system came back up.

Then there's the question as to WHO "owns" or has "access" to the information - will the member be allowed to download their personal records as a backup (like they can request copies now) or will they be banned from that "privilege"?

What happens with a massive "power outage", hacker attack, natural disaster that might put the databases under water or a collapsed building?

How would "wrong" information be changed if it's "permanent"? Something as simple as a wrong blood type (yes it's happened to members of my family) could become a continuing problem.

I'd be much less concerned if there was an example of a "pure" database out there somewhere but I've never found one yet.

The closest database that might compare to this is the credit reporting databases and if that's the "best" there'll soon be a NEW industry out there just to follow and correct the mistakes - just like the one for credit reporting,.
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