VA, DoD tout major progress in effort to join electronic health records systems

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are eyeing the end of the summer for significant advances in their efforts for a new, joint electronic health record, a move that both bureaucracies have made the long-term centerpiece of medical reforms for their patients.

On Monday, VA officials announced they have transferred the health records of 23.5 million veterans to Cerner Corp., the company behind the planned 10-year, $16 billion records modernization effort.

In a statement, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie called the move a key initial step in getting his department on the same records system as the military, a goal of both departments for decades that has remained frustratingly incomplete.

The 78 billion...