Document Scanning Blog

According the Government Accountability office (GAO), the September 30th deadline for having interoperable electronic health record systems in place is looming large. Progress has been made in this herculean effort, but according to GAO officials the agency still has a lot of work to do to improve its internal capabilities. A recent study done by Investigators for the GAO found that while most departments have made progress in creating the Department of Defense (DOD) / VA interagency program office, the office is not yet ready to be fully accountable for the project. In order to become fully operational as an “interagency” office by the end of fiscal 2009, the DOD/VA department must enable the use of electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) between the various agencies and departments that interact with them. The six objectives outlined by the interoperability program office include:

• Sharing DOD electronic records and histories using EMR scanning and medical chart scanning, etc.
• Sharing data provided on physical exams (also available through EMR scanning and data storage systems)
• Demonstrating secure document storage and expanded bandwidth for the sharing of information
• Exchanging (with one another) all periodic DOD health assessment data
• Demonstrating the DOD’s initial ability to scan medical records belonging to service members

While GAO agreed that the first three objectives have been met, each department only partially achieved the objectives for exchanging medical records, the expansion of DOD’s inpatient system, and demonstration of their document scanning capabilities. GAO said the first three goals had been met, but the departments have only partially achieved their objectives for exchanging health assessment data, expanding DOD’s inpatient system and demonstrating initial document-scanning capabilities. Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Timberlake said that in spite of these challenges, he expect the interagency program office to meet the objectives by the September 30th deadline.