Military Connection: New Electronic Medical Records: By Debbie Gregory

Get ready for one of the most lucrative opportunities in federal information technology. The Department of Defense is looking to find a firm to manage electronic health records U.S. service members.

After the stream of failures with the Affordable Care Act’s website launch and the criticism that followed, and in the wake of the VA wait-list scandal, the DOD is shopping for a provider to manage an $11 billion information-technology system.

Companies that are expected to vie for the contract include Northrop Grumman Corp, Accenture Plc, Hewlett-Packard Inc., Leidos Holdings Inc., and IBM, who has already announced their plan to partner with Epic Systems Corp in a bid for the contract.

The U.S. military wants to start using a new system to store and share service members’ medical records. This system would facilitate the sharing of records between the military and the VA when service members separate from their branch of service and become Veterans at large.

Many critics of current Veteran healthcare, including law makers and Veteran advocates, have placed partial blame of the VA backlog on the DOD’s record system, and how the DOD and the VA’s medical tracking systems don’t mesh. Back in May, 2013, the Pentagon announced that it would create a new electronic health-records system. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel vowed to work with the VA to develop a “seamless system” for service members and Veterans.

The DOD is expected to officially post solicitations for the contract in July or August. The contract is expected to carry a ten year commitment.

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