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The instance issue itself is always hard because we are the largest integrated health system.... No one scales to that level. The question is: How well does the data work? How well does the data flow? That’s really being addressed with our [joint DOD/VA interoperability pro- gram office] currently [and] our interoperability plan, which will state that we will be interoperable [by the end of April].
Then moving on with what we call eHMP [Enterprise Health Management Platform], which gives us some flex- ibility and views of data very differently, getting a soft launch in August of this year, with full rollout next year. I think the real question for us is functionality and think- ing about how we provide holistic health care for our veterans.
How do we ensure care in the community? [How do we ensure] that we have an accurate electronic health record? How do we also ensure that it’s a secure health record and that a veteran can get care anywhere at any time? Those are the key drivers, in addition [to], as we said, the num- ber of women veterans, ensuring that the care is there.
What’s your role in making sure that VA can work with DOD’s new system? What activity is taking place at VA to accommodate that?
The [joint interoperability program office] was set up to really drive this link between the DOD and the VA. It was purposely set up to create really a flow of data. A flow
of data requires a lot of things. It requires that you’re using the same expectation and definition for the data. It
requires that we’ve all agreed as to what the dataset is — all these things. That’s what the IPO was set up to do: to ensure a holistic record.
Is the current work on interoperability going to pay off when the Pentagon switches to its new commercial system? Or will that work be lost?
It’s not lost. It totally feeds. What we’ve got to do is ensure what we’re doing with eHMP and what we do in the next generation will also continue to keep that feed and that we take advantage of technology.
The veteran to us and the veteran data is not just health data. It’s the holistic set of all the things that they have rights and that their family has rights to. People forget that. All of those things really make up the veteran’s infor- mation, not just the health care side.
For the first time, there are things that just aren’t health- related that will be flowing in to create this holistic record. That to me is ultimate legacy. That’s where I get excited.
Coping with Congress
What would you tell a private-sector colleague who is interested in moving into government about how to deal with congressional oversight?
Most people who have been in C-suite jobs in corporate America are used to oversight. It’s called a board. Then
it’s called your boss, and there are auditors. Much of the oversight that’s here is very similar except for the political element of it.
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VA / ROBERT TURTIL