National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

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One U.S. Veteran Attempts Suicide Every 80 Minutes: Hidden tragedy Of Afghanistan And Iraq Wars

Staff Writer | Daily Mail | November 3, 2011

One U.S. veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan attempts suicide every 80 minutes, according to new study. Read More »

Pentagon Aims To Boost EHR Interoperability With VA

Staff Writer | iHealthBeat | February 11, 2014

Last month, the Department of Defense issued a draft request for proposals that would help the agency meet requirements for electronic health record interoperability under the Healthcare Management Systems Modernization project, EHR Intelligence reports (Bresnick, EHR Intelligence, 2/7). Read More »

Pentagon’s New Health Record System Will Cost $1.5 Billion

Bob Brewin | Defense One | March 16, 2014

The Pentagon plans to spend $1.5 billion procuring a new, commercial electronic health record system from 2017 through 2019, new budget documents disclosed.

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Quit Wasting Money On e-Health Records, Congress Tells Defense And VA

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | January 15, 2014

Worried that the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments might continue to spend years and billions of dollars in a “futile exercise” to develop their own electronic health record systems “and lose sight of the end-goal of an interoperable record,” lawmakers included funding restrictions in the 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Act the House passed Wednesday. Read More »

Schumer: DoD & VA Health Records Are Not Compatible & Not All Are Electronic – One Of The Biggest Causes Of VA Benefit Backlog; Senator Will Push Legislation To Create Interoperable Records & Address Almost 15,000 Backlogged Claims In Upstate NY

Press Release | Senator Charles E. Schumer | November 6, 2013

Just ahead of Veteran’s Day, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) to create interoperable, electronic health records for service members, in order to address the serious delays in processing almost 15,000 Upstate New York veterans’ disability and other benefits. Read More »

Sen. Schumer Seeks Creation Of Electronic Files For Vets

Staff Writer | The Observer | November 11, 2013

As Veterans Day is a time to remember, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is fighting for veterans' benefits through the Department of Defense and the Depart-ment of Veterans Affairs. Read More »

Sen. Schumer Stumps For Two Military Health IT Bills

Staff Writer | iHealthBeat | November 13, 2013

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing for the passage of two bills (S 1296; S 928) that would require the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to develop an interoperable electronic health record system for military service members and hold VA accountable for reducing its backlog of outstanding disability claims [...]. Read More »

Technology Key To Approaching Overhaul Of Military Health System

Dan Bowman | FierceHealthIT | July 17, 2013

Health technology will be critical to a planned overhaul of the Military Health System, which is expected to save the U.S. Department of Defense $2.4 billion over a six-year span, according to a DoD report. Read More »

The Junk Science Behind Michael Savage's Attacks On Military Troops With PTSD

Lisa Reed | Media Matters | October 26, 2014

Last week, Michael Savage leveled his latest in a long string of attacks on Americans with mental illness and the medical community that works to help them. After a veteran caller with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) expressed support for the city of San Francisco naming a bridge after the late Robin Williams, the right-wing radio host announced that he is "so sick and tired of everyone with their complaints about PTSD, depression," asserting that it's a sign of a "weak, sick, broken nation."...

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The Sorry State Of Veterans' Health Care

Malou Innocent | US News | April 4, 2013

Here is a sad lesson in government waste. Since 2008, the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) have spent over $1 billion to create an integrated electronic health record (iEHR). Four years and $1 billion later, not a single line of code has been implemented. Read More »

The Year In HIE: Public, Private Sectors Prodded To Interoperability

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | December 23, 2013

From the start, 2013 brought some the most scrutiny ever devoted to the issue of interoperability, inside the world of healthcare and broadly in the public. Read More »

Troops With Traumatic Brain Injury Show Symptoms 5 Years Later

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | July 3, 2013

A high proportion of the 273,859 troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continued to experience “significant symptoms and problems” five years after injury, the Pentagon said in its first take on a 15-year TBI study mandated by Congress. Read More »

Two Bills Aim To Expedite Benefits For Veterans

Susan D. Hall | FierceEMR | November 12, 2013

Citing frustration that veterans in New York wait on average 400 days for the start of benefits, Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing two bills to speed things up. Read More »

VA And Defense Dept. Began Paying For New Records System While Still Funding Abandoned One

Noel Brinkerhoff | AllGov | August 29, 2013

Members of Congress have been demanding for years that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) work together so the records of military personnel could be seamlessly shared between the two agencies, and that veterans could avoid paperwork problems that delay receiving health and disability benefits... Read More »

VA Says Claims Backlog Down 36 Percent Since March

Diana Manos | Government Health IT | December 18, 2013

Department of Veterans Affairs’ Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey says the Veterans Benefits Administration is putting a big dent in the backlog of Veterans’ disability compensation and pension claims. In fact, the VBA has cut the backlog by 36 percent since last March, she told a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Read More »