On July 29th, the Department of Defense www.defense.gov awarded a $4.3 billion contract to the Leidos Partnership for Defense Health http://leidosdefensehealth.com, including Cerner www.cerner.com, Accenture Federal Services www.accenture.com, and Leidos www.leidos.com.
The new contract will provide information and health records on more than 9.5 million Defense Department beneficiaries and more than 205,000 care providers that support them.
The contract will improve current interoperability among DOD, the VA, private healthcare providers, and enable them to access and update health records. The contract is based on protocols established by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT www.healthit.gov and the DOD/VA interagency program office.
The next step is to test the software to ensure that it is secure and does what is needed. The contractor will begin fielding the system at eight locations in the Pacific Northwest covering each of the services late next year. Ultimately, the system will be fielded at more than 1,000 locations worldwide. The cost over 18 years was placed at $11 billion, but new figures now suggest the ultimate cost will be below $9 billion