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GAO-07-554R 1 (2007-04-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptavbf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 


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       Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548


         April 30, 2007

         The Honorable Ike Skelton
         Chairman
         The Honorable Duncan Hunter
         Ranking Member
         Committee on Armed Services
         House of Representatives

         The Honorable Vic Snyder
         Chairman
         The Honorable John M. McHugh
         Ranking Member
         Subcommittee on Military Personnel
         Committee on Armed Services
         House of Representatives

         Subject: DOD and VA Outpatient Pharmacy Data: Computable Data Are
                  Exchanged for Some Shared Patients, but Additional Steps Could
                  Facilitate Exchanging These Data for All Shared Patients

         Since 1998, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans
         Affairs (VA) have been working to electronically exchange patient health data,
         including outpatient pharmacy data,' across their electronic health information
         systems. Exchanging outpatient pharmacy data is important for DOD and VA because
         certain DOD and VA patients, known as shared patients, receive health care from
         both agencies. Clinicians' access to complete health information from both agencies'
         health information systems could assist clinicians in making more informed medical
         decisions and help prevent adverse medication reactions-which include detrimental
         or unintended reactions when multiple medications are taken together and allergic
         reactions to a medication. In March 2004, DOD and VA began collaborating on a long-
         term initiative to make their outpatient pharmacy data computable. Computable data
         refer to data that are in a format that a computer application can act on: for example,
         to provide automatic checks for adverse medication reactions or to plot graphs of
         changes in vital signs such as blood pressure.






         1Patient health data also include demographic, radiology, laboratory, and allergy data. Outpatient pharmacy data refer to
         infon-nation on medications dispensed and medication allergies.


GAO-07-554R DOD and VA Exchange of Computable Pharmacy Data

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