VA VA/DoD Sharing Budget Code:  
This program increases the sharing of Medical Information Resources between VA and DoD. Initiatives include:
  • Electronic standards based data exchange;
  • Investigate the feasibility of movement towards standard (common) data dictionary definitions;
  • Creation of a laboratory for VA, DoD, and Indian Health Service to partner the assessment of methodologies and technologies for data sharing;
  • Investigate the feasibility of shared software modules;
  • Examination of the feasibility of a standard Federal health care system software architecture;
  • Investigation of prototypes for interoperability and interconnectivity using common standards such as the medical HL-7 specification methodology;
  • Development of automated DoD Contingency Data Reporting systems for sharing bed availability, peace-time transportation of VA patients on DoD transportation, and the integration of VA DHCP to the DoD US TRANSCOM Regulating and Command & Control Evacuation System (TRACES);
  • Development of a generic VA/DoD medical imaging interface to allow both text and medical images to be exchanged between commercial radiology imaging systems and the Federal medical information systems (VA DHCP and DoD CHCS).
Goals include:
  1. Establish an integrated imaging system at VA/DoD Joint Venture sites that will provide high quality image and textural data exchange from cardiology, pulmonary and gastrointestinal endoscopy, pathology, radiology, hematology, and nuclear medicine to facilitate the clinician's task of correlating such data, as well as making patient care decisions in a timely and accurate way;
  2. Maximize use of Federal health care resources through systems integration as charged by Congress;
  3. Reduce redundant equipment and software requirements for DHCP and CHCS at VA/DoD Joint Venture sites;
  4. Facilitate implementation of the One Patient-One Record system at VA/DoD Joint Venture sites.
Budget ($ M)
FY 95 Act 1.25
FY 96 Pres 3.71
FY 96 Est 0.65
FY 97 Rqst 1.25
Program Component Areas
  FY 96 FY 97
HECC    
LSN 0.65 1.00
HCS   0.25
HuCS    
ETHR    
Agency Ties
DARPA  
NSF  
DOE  
NASA  
NIH  
NSA  
NIST Partner
NOAA  
EPA  
ED  
AHCPR Partner
VA  
Milestone Changes  
FY 1995 Actual Milestones FY 1996 Estimated Milestones FY 1997 Agency Requested Milestones
Installed VA software and hardware in DoD Interconnectivity and Integration Laboratory in order to test standards based data interchange and interoperability.

Tested and demonstrated techniques for exchange of data between DHCP and TRAC2ES prototype system for use in wartime and national disaster.

Installed and tested VA gateway at additional DoD facilities to transfer text data system in HL-7 and ACR-NEMA standard formats between CHCS and MDIS Radiology PACS system. 		Imaging: develop, test, and install enhanced gateway at two test facilities for exchange of both text and digitized images between VA and DoD Radiology systems at Joint Venture sites.

Computerized patient record: continue development, testing, and collaboration with particular focus on the graphical user interface and a common approach to characterizing the clinician's view of the patient record.

Support standardization of nomenclature for health care records.

Integration Laboratory: support a standards-based, Open Systems integration laboratory for testing interoperability of CHCS, DHCP, Indian Health Service HIS, and commercial computerized patient record software. 		Imaging: develop and test an imaging and text system to allow remote facilities to exchange multi media clinical information initially focused on the radiology application.

Computerized patient record: continue development, testing, and collaboration with particular focus on the graphical user interface and a common approach to characterizing the clinician's view of the patient record.

Support standardization of nomenclature for health care records.

Integration Laboratory: support a standards-based, Open Systems integration laboratory for testing interoperability of CHCS, DHCP, Indian Health Service HIS, and commercial computerized patient record software.