CHIME Statement on VA’s EHR Decision

ANN ARBOR, MI, June 5, 2017 – Today the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. David J. Shulkin, announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs will transition to a commercial electronic health record system and adopt the same EHR system as the Department of Defense.

Statement by CHIME President and CEO Russell Branzell on the VA’s EHR modernization announcement:

Secretary Shulkin’s announcement underscores the importance of achieving nationwide interoperability, highlighting many of the challenges experienced by healthcare CIOs today. I was pleased to hear that Secretary Shulkin consulted healthcare leaders, including hospitals CIOs, as he arrived at his decision to join the Department of Defense (DoD) in moving toward a single EHR system from enlistment through retirement.

Smooth transition of care for patients, servicemen and servicewomen, veterans, or civilian patients, and ongoing coordinated care, are predicated on interoperability and a mature digital infrastructure to support the exchange of health information. Undoubtedly, this decision will impact health systems nationwide as many veterans receive care through the Choice program outside of the VA. We look forward to working with the VA and DoD to ensure that all patients can benefit from Secretary Shulkin’s decision.

Secretary Shulkin’s announcement can be read here.

About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,300 CIO members and over 150 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

Contact
Candace Stuart
Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME
734.665.0000
[email protected]