According to Representative Roe from Tennessee, DOD and the VA have spent more than $1 billion dollars to develop an in-house system. However, it was announced early this year that these efforts are now on hold. The Interagency Program Office Specifically created for iEHR development spent $362 million in FY 2012 alone.
On May 20th, Representative Roe and other co-sponsors introduced the “Integrated Electronic Health records (iEHR) for Military and Veterans Act” (H.R 2055). The legislation would establish a competition for non-governmental entities to develop the iEHR program for use by DOD and the VA. The cash prize would be $50 million.
The bill requires the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to create a joint panel to develop the criteria needed to develop the iEHR. The panel would have 90 days to establish these criteria. The members of the joint panel would include one physician from each of the military departments, two physicians employed by the VA, and two representatives of the Veterans Benefits Administration within the VA.
The company or entity that is awarded the prize will be awarded a contract with DOD and the VA to provide the iEHR program and to maintain and support the program for a five year period. The prize winner under this contract would be paid $25,000,000 for each year.
After the bill was introduced it was referred to the Committee on Armed Services and to the Committee on Veterans Affairs.